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ANNALS 


OF    THE 


QUEENS  OF  SPAIN. 


ANNALS 


OF    THE 


QUEENS    OF    SPAIN, 


FROM   THE 


PERIOD  OF   THE    CONQUEST    OF  THE    GOTHS    DOWN  TO   THE   REIQN 
OF     HER     PRESENT     MAJESTY     ISABEL     II.,    WITH    THE    RE- 
MARKABLE  EVENTS    THAT    OCCURRED  DURING    THEIR 
REIGNS.   AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THEIR   COURT3. 

:st  Unitarian  GhnicL 

BY 

ANITA   GEORGE. 
VOL.  I. 

NEW  YORK : 

BAKER    AND    SCRIBNER, 
1850. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1850,  by 
%       *     *  A.  MI  TLA    GEeR*E.>-fc 

«       «  "       •     '"  .1       r  -  • 

erk's  Office  of  the  Di'triCl  Cor*  'of'  the  UnitjecT^tates  fo 


In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  DtriCl  Cor*  'of  tlje  UnitjecTtates  for  the  Southern 
District  of  New  York.     ' 


C.   W.    BENEDICT 
201  William  street. 


Stack 

Annex 

5 


V.I 


To  no  one  can  a  work  on  Spain  he  inscribed  with  greater  pro- 
priety than  to  the  author  of  the  History  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  ; 
and  though  with  regret  that  it  is  not  more  worthy  his  acceptance, 
the  Authoress  avails  herself  of  his  permission,  to  offer  him  this 
testimony  of  admiration  for  his  talents,  and  gratitude  for  his  many 
kindnesses. 

BOBTON,  November  28,  1849. 


1734327 


PREFACE. 


EMINENT  writers  have  given  us  lives,  memoirs,  histories  of 
the  sovereigns  of  France  and  England  :  but,  without  seeking 
to  detract  from  the  merit  of  works  I  do  not  pretend  to  equal, 
far  less  to  excel,  I  will  venture  to  remind  the  critical  reader 
that  theirs  was  afar  easier  task  than  mine.  Few  are  aware 
of  the  labor,  patience  and  perseverance  requisite  to  write 
history.  To  collect  all  the  materials  necessary  for  the  under- 
taking, to  select  with  discrimination  and  care  from  the  hete- 
rogeneous mass,  to  unite  the  component  but  disjointed  parts 
into  one  unbroken  narrative,  and  finally,  to  present  the  result 
in  a  pleasing  form  to  the  reader,  is  a  task  far  more  arduous 
than  many  imagine,  who  view  it  in  the  light  of  a  mere  compi- 
lation. If  these  remarks  apply  to  history  in  general,  they 
certainly  do  more  especially  to  the  annals  of  the  sovereigns 
of  Spain.  England,  from  the  reign  of  Athelstane,  the  grand- 
son of  Alfred,  in  927,  has  acknowledged  but  one  sovereign  ;  and, 
from  the  close  of  the  ninth  century,  we  find  no  division  of  the 
French  dominions  into  separate  kingdoms ;  while,  in  Spain,  it 
was  not  until  the  year  1515,  that  the  Spanish  dominions  became 
united  under  one  ruler,  having,  for  eight  hundred  years  previ- 
ous to  that  period,  been  divided  into  a  number  of  petty  king- 
doms, governed  by  independent  princes,  whose  frequent  wars. 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

intermarriages,  usurpations  of  each  others  dominions,  and, 
above  all,  similitude  of  names,  render  the  compilation  of  their 
annals  a  work  of  patience  and  labor. 

While  giving  such  details  of  the  lives  of  the  female  sove- 
reigns as  the  records  of  their  times  afford,  I  have  endeavored 
to  maintain  unbroken  the  connecting  links  between  each  reign, 
sketching  the  history  of  Spain  from  the  time  of  the  invasion  of 
the  Goths  down  to  the  present  day.  Of  the  earlier  portion  of 
that  period,  we  possess  but  meagre,  contradictory  and  unsatis- 
factory records,  and  those  disfigured  by  the  exaggerations  and 
fables  of  a  superstitious  age.  Of  many  of  the  queens,  little 
besides  the  names  remains  to  rescue  their  memory  from  the  sea 
of  oblivion.  Of  others,  again,  we  find  even  the  existence  dis- 
puted. But,  as  we  approach  the  fourteenth  century,  the  ma- 
terials of  the  historian  become  gradually  more  copious,  and 
the  chronicles  abound  with  well  authenticated  traits  of  the 
generosity,  the  romantic  valor,  the  devoted  loyalty  for  which 
the  sons  of  that  land  of  chivalry  have  ever  been  so  eminently 
distinguished. 

I  have  not  entered  into  a  detailed  account  of  sieges,  battles, 
and  treaties,  which  would  have  proved  neither  instructive  nor 
entertaining,  but  have  omitted  none  of  the  remarkable  events 
that  were  connected  with  the  subject,  though  sparing  those 
unimportant  facts  that  would  have  lengthened  without  adding 
to  the  utility  of  the  work.  I  have  given  facts  as  I  have  found 
them,  allowing  the  reader  to  put  his  own  constructions,  with- 
out attempting  to  bias  his  judgment  by  the  intrusion  of  my 
own  interpretations,  conjectures,  and  comments.  No  character 
is  so  black,  none  so  fair,  but  what  the  historian  by  a  judicious 
management  of  light  and  shade  may  whiten  the  one  and  blacken 
the  other.  But  whatever  may  be  the  errors  with  which  I  can 
be  charged,  I  do  not  think  I  have  incurred  the  reproach  of 


PREFACE.  IX 

partiality.  I  have  drawn  my  royal  personages  with  their  good 
and  evil  traits,  without  either  extenuation  or  exaggeration. 

The  present  volume,  though  forming  the  first  of  a  series, 
may  be  considered  as  a  complete  work  of  itself,  as  it  embraces 
all  the  sovereigns  of  Aragon  and  Castile  down  to  the  period 
when  those  two  kingdoms  were  united  by  the  marriage  of  their 
respective  princes,  Isabel  and  Ferdinand. 

I  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to  quote  in  notes  each  and 
every  author  whom  I  have  consulted,  but  will  refer  the  curi- 
ous reader  to  the  following  list  of  the  writers  from  whose  pages 
I  have  chiefly  drawn  my  materials. 

Mariana,  Historia  de  Espafia  ;  Garibay,  Compendio  Histori- 
al ;  Zurita,  Annales  de  Aragon  ;  Abarca,  Reyes  de  Aragon  ; 
Florez,  Reinas  Catolicas ;  Cronica  General ;  Cronica  de 
Alfonso  Onceno  ;  Ayala,  Cronica  de  Don  Pedro,  de  Enrique 
II.,  de  Juan  I.,  y  de  Enrique  III.  ;  Guzman,  Cronica  de  Juan 
II.  ;  Castillo,  Cronica  de  Enrique  IV.;  Conde  de  la  Roca, 
Don  Pedro  defendido  ;  Quintana,  Vidas  de  Espanoles  celebres ; 
Gandara,  Apuntes  sobre  el  bien  y  el  mal  de  Espafia ;  Cle- 
mencin,  Memorias  de  la  Real  Academiea  ;  Pulgar,  Reyes 
Catolicos. 

I  have  used  every  work  that  could  be  of  service  to  me  and 
rejected  no  authority  worthy  of  credit.  For  many  of  these 
works  I  have  been  indebted  to  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  William 
H.  Prescott  and  Mr.  George  Ticknor  of  Boston,  who  kindly 
allowed  me  the  use  of  their  valuable  and  extensive  libraries, 
and  to  whom  I  take  this  opportunity  of  tendering  my  acknow- 
ledgments. My  warmest  thanks  are  also  due  to  my  friend 
Mr.  J.  T.  Headley,  whose  efficient  kindness  in  procuring  me 
materials  and  encouragement  amid  the  difficulties  such  an 
undertaking  presented,  have  greatly  assisted  me  in  its  accom- 
plishment. 


INTRODUCTION. 


OF  all  the  barbarous  nations  that,  issuing  from  the  sterile 
and  over-peopled  north,  overran  the  more  fertile  regions  of  the 
south,  the  Goths  alone  succeeded  in  effecting  a  lasting  settle- 
ment in  Spain.  After  proving,  under  Alaric,  the  scourge  and 
terror  of  Italy,  this  warlike  people,  under  Ataulfus,  brother- 
in-law  of  that  chieftain,  possessed  themselves  in  415  of  the 
country  lying  between  the  Pyrenean  mountains,  choosing 
Nar bonne  as  their  capital.  In  the  following  year  they  passed 
over  into  Spain,  from  whence  having  driven  forth  or  subdued 
the  Vandals,  Alans,  Suevians  and  Stiligians,  they  finally  ex- 
pelled the  Romans,  establishing  a  sovereignty  that  lasted 
upwards  of  three  hundred  years,  and  ended  with  the  defeat 
and  death  in  714  of  Roderic,  the  last  of  the  Gothic  Kings. 

Although  constantly  distracted  by  internal  divisions,  the 
Goths,  from  the  time  of  their  first  settlement  in  Spain,  rapidly 
enlarged  their  possessions,  and  in  the  year  467  were  possessed 
of  Betica  and  Catalonia.  The  Suevians  under  Remismundus 
were  masters  of  Galicia  and  part  of  Lusitania,  and  the  re- 
mainder of  Spain  still  obeyed  the  sway  of  the  Romans. 
Euricus,  then  king  of  the  Goths,  having  made  peace  with 
Leo,  emperor  of  the  east,  after  overrunning  all  Spain  to  its 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

farthest  extremity  and  subduing  Lusitania,  sent  part  of  his 
forces  to  take  possession  of  Pamplona  and  Saragossa,  while 
he  himself,  with  the  remainder,  marched  towards  Hispana 
Citerior  ;  the  famous  city  of  Tarragona  holding  out  against  a 
long  siege,  he  levelled  it  to  the  ground.  This  was  the  last  of 
the  Roman  Empire  in  Spain,  after  it  had  lasted  nearly  seven 
hundred  years,  and  all  the  country,  with  the  exception  of 
Galicia,  still  held  by  the  Suevians,  fell  under  the  dominion  of 
the  Goths.  Not  content  with  his  success  in  Spain,  Euricus, 
taking  advantage  of  the  anarchy  and  confusion  into  which  the 
Roman  provinces  had  fallen,  passed  over  to  France,  and 
having  united  his  forces  with  those  of  the  Ostrogoths  under 
Vinde,  extended  his  empire  over  a  considerable  portion  of 
that  country.  His  successors,  however,  were  unable  to  keep 
these  conquests.  The  Goths  being  Arrians,  and  the  Franks 
under  their  king  Clovis,  having  embraced  the  Catholic  creed, 
this  difference  in  religion  was,  during  the  reign  of  Alaricus,  the 
son  of  Euricus,  the  occasion  of  long  and  bloody  wars  between 
the  two  nations.  The  Franks  proving  repeatedly  victorious, 
the  Goths  lost  nearly  all  their  possessions  in  France,  Alaricus 
himself  being  slain  in  a  battle  fought  in  Poitiers  in  the  year 
508.  Alaricus  was  the  first  king  of  the  Goths  who  made  use 
of  written  laws,  these  laws  having  been  added  to,  under 
succeeding  sovereigns,  form  the  code  known  as  the  Forum 
Judicum,  or  Fuero  Juzgo. 

From  the  reign  of  the  first  king  of  the  Goths  to  that  of  the 
last,  during  a  period  of  three  centuries,  thirty-three  sovereigns 
pat  on  the  Spanish  throne,  but  during  these  three  centuries 
the  Goths  wofully  degenerated  from  their  original  energy  and 
indomitable  valor.  Though  frequently  torn  by  civil  wars,  the 
nation  was  not  for  a  long  space  of  time  called  to  contend  with 
foreign  foes.  The  ancient  ferocity  of  the  worshippers  of 


INTRODUCTION.  Xlll 

Odin  had  become  gradually  tamed  by  the  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  the  strength  of  the  descendants  of  the  sons 
of  the  north  enervated  by  the  genial  climate  and  luxurious 
soil  of  this  Garden  of  Eden.  Weakened  by  a  famine  and 
divided  by  factions,  Spain  presented  an  easy  prey  to  the 
Saracens,  who  invaded  it  in  714.  But  the  ancient  spirit  of 
the  Goths,  though  dormant,  was  not  extinguished,  and  two 
years  after  the  first  entrance  of  the  Moors,  the  former  com- 
menced that  long  series  of  struggles  for  the  redemption  of 
their  country  from  the  yoke  of  the  Infidels,  that,  protracted 
for  centuries,  ended  with  the  final  expulsion  of  the  latter  in 
1492. 

These  incessant  wars  with  a  nation  skilled  in  the  science  of 
arms,  restored  their  ancient  energy  to  the  Spaniards,  while 
they  also  acquired  from  their  learned  as  well  as  chivalrous 
foes,  the  polite  arts  of  refined  civilization.  Though  divided 
into  several  kingdoms,  and  almost  constantly  at  war,  the 
strength  the  Spaniards  could  muster  is  almost  incredible,  and 
contrasts  strangely  with  their  resources  at  the  present  day. 
The  Castiles  alone  could  easily  furnish  forty  thousand  horse, 
and  until  the  reign  of  Juan  II.  no  Andalusians  fought  in  the 
armies  of  our  sovereigns.  Alfonso  VIII.,  king  of  the  two  Cas- 
tiles, alone  gained  the  famous  victory  of  Las  Navas  at  the  head 
of  40,000  Castilian  horse  and  130,000  infantry.  He  had  also 
60,000  baggage  wagons,  that  required  at  least  140,000  draft 
horses.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  Castiles  of  the  present  day 
could  furnish  one-third  of  this  number  of  men  and  horses. 
Spain  continued  to  increase  in  power  and  splendor  until  the 
riches  of  the  new  world,  destroying  its  energy  and  industry, 
caused  that  decline  in  her  prosperity  which  has  reduced  her  to 
a  secondary  rank  among  nations. 

But  the  past  affords  too  good  a  foundation  for  sanguine 


XIV  INTRODUCTION. 

hopes  of  the  future,  to  allow  us  to  doubt  she  will  retrieve 
much  of  what  she  has  lost.  Spain  contains  within  herself 
those  elements  of  prosperity  that  the  majority  of  other  nations 
are  forced  to  seek  among  their  neighbors.  Her  fertile  soil 
produces  every  necessary  of  life,  every  luxury  of  civilization. 
Her  sons,  whose  bravery,  industry  and  sobriety  once  set 
examples  to  the  world,  have  not  degenerated  from  their 
ancient  virtues,  and  the  nation  that  was  the  first  to  check  the 
victorious  career  of  the  till  then  unconquered  Corsican,  cannot 
yet  have  fallen  so  low  but  that  she  may  once  more  soar  to  her 
former  glorious  height 


GOTHIC  QUEENS,  .     from  415  to  714. 

QUEENS  OF  OVIEDO  AND  LEON,  from  718  to  1037. 
QUEENS  OF  ARAGON,  .  from  1034  to  1468. 
QUEENS  OF  CASTILE,  from  1034  to  1475. 


CONTENTS. 


PLACIDIA,  . 

THEUDICODA,  . 

CLOTILDA,  . 

GOSUINDA,  . 

THEODOSIA,  . 

INGUNDIS,  . 

BADA,  . 

CLODOSINDA,  . 

HILDUARA,  . 

THEODORA,  . 

RECIBERGA,  . 

LEUBIGOTONA,  . 

CIXILONA,  . 


GOTHIC  QUEENS. 

FROM   415  TO   714. 

Queen  of  Ataulfus, 

.         .  Alaric,    . 

.         .  Amalaric, 

.         .  Athanagild,  Leuvigild, 

.         .  Leuvigild, 

.         .  Ermenegild 

.         .  Recared, 

. 

.  Gundemar, 

.  Suinthila, 

.         .  Chindasuinth, 

.  Ervigius, 

.  Egica,     . 

.         .  Roderick, 


XV111 


CONTENTS. 


QUEENS  OF    OVIEDO   AND  LEON. 


GAUDIOSA, 

FROLENA,   . 

ORMESINDA, 

AMULINA, 

ADOCINDA, 

BERTA, 

NlMILONA, 

URRACA,  OR  PATERNA, 

MUNIA,        . 

AMELINA,  OR  XIMENA, 


FROM   718   TO  1037. 

PAOI. 

Queen  of  Pelayo,          .         .         .25 
Favila,      «k  .         .         .29 
.      Alfonso  I.,  The  Catholic,   30 
.      Froila,         ...     31 
Silon,  .     32 

.     r  i*     Alfonso  II.,  The  Chaste,    33 
%  ?  3  3  :J  »'  Bermudo  I.,  The  Deacon,  33 


MUNINA  ELVIRA, 

ANGOTA, 
' 

OANTIVA, 

URRACA  XIMENEZ, 

TERESA, 

URRACA, 

ELVIRA, 

TERESA, 

URRACA, 

VELASQUITA,  . 

ELVIRA, 

ELVIRA,          .  * 

TERESA,          . " , 


Ramiro  I.,  ,-.*   '  .     36 

Ordofio  I.,  .  .     37 

Alfonso  III.,  '  ',  .     38 

Garcia  I.,  ^_  .40 

OrdofloIL,  '"T;  .     40 

"             •  •*  •     40 

"             •  -V"  •     40 

Alfonso  IV.,  The  Monk,  41 


" 


Ramiro  II., 
Ordoflo  III.,         f 

Sancho  I.,  The  Fat,      . 
Ramiro  III.,  .        ^ 

Bermudo  II.,  The  Gouty, 

M 

Alfonso  V.,    . 

Bermudo  III.,        .         . 


42 
46 
46 
48 
49 
50 
50 
51 
51 


CONTENTS. 


XIX 


HEE.VS    OF    AEAGON. 


FROM  1034  TO  146». 


GISBERGA  OR  ERMEsiNDA,  Queen  of  Ramiro,  I. 


FELICIA,  .          . 

BERTA  OR  INES,    . 
URRACA, 
AGNES, 
PETRONILLA, 
SANCHA,        . 
MARIA  DE  MONTPELIER, 
LEONOR  OF  CASTILE, 
VlOLANTE  OF  HUNGARY, 
TERESA  GIL  DE  VIDAURA, 
CONSTANCE  OF  SICILY,    . 
ISABEL  OF  CASTILE, 
BLANCHE  OF  ANJOU, 
MARIA,  INFANTA  OF  CHIPRE, 
ELISEN  DE  MONCADA, 
LEONOR  OF  CASTILE, 
MARIA  OF  NAVARRE,    . 
LEONOR  OF  PORTUGAL,  . 
LEONOR  OF  SICILY, 

SlBILA  DE    FORCIA, 
VlOLANTE, 

MARIA  DE  LUNA,  . 
MARGARITA  DE  PRADES, 
LEONOR  DE  ALBURQUERQUE,  . 
MARIA  OF  CASTILE, 
JUAN  A  HENRIQUEZ, 


61 

Sancho  Ramirez,  62 

Pedro  I.,    .         .  64 

Alfonso  I.  The  Warrior,     64 
Ramiro  II.  The  Monk,      65 

Rajmund,  Count  of  Barcelona,  71 

Alfonso  II.,      .  68 

Pedro  II.  The  Catholic,   71 

James  I.  The  Conqueror,  72 

"  "  76 

"  "  86 

Pedro  III.  The  Great,      93 

James  II.  The  Just,        107 

"  "  107 

«  "  107 

"  107 

Alfonso  IV.,  Ill 

PedrO   IV.    Of  the  Dagger.          121 

"  121 

"             u  121 

"             "  121 

Juan  I.,        .  .           133 

Martin,        .  .           137 

"  137 

Ferdinand   I.,  .            140 

AlfonsoV.,  146 

Juan  II.,  152 


XX  CONTENT* 

ftUEENS  OF  CASTILE  AND  LEON, 

FROM    lOSt    TO  1475. 

PACK. 

SANCHA,  Queen  of  Ferdinand  I.  The  Great.,  175 

INES,           •*;'•''*    /  Alfonso,  VI.                  .      178 

CONSTANCIA,          .  ''     .'  *  "                       .      178 

ZAIDA,  OR  ISABEL,         .  .         .      178 

BERTA  OP  TUSCANY,      .  "                               185 

ELIZABETH  OF  FRANCE,  .         .       185 

BEATRIX,                ^       .'  "               .         .185 

URRACA,               ' . . '     '.  '  Alfonso  VII.  The  Warrior,  187 

BERENGARIA,        -.•     *.*•'  Alfonso  VIII.,      .         .      196 

RICA,            ...  "                        .      196 

BLANCHE,               .         .  Sancho  III.  K.  of  Castile,    201 

URRACA  OF  PORTUGAL,  Ferdinand.  King  of  Leon.  203 

TERESA,                 .    ''  •.  •  "               .         .      203 

URRACA  DE  HARO,         .  .         .-•    203 

LEONOR  OF  ENGLAND,  Alfonso  IX.  K.  of  Castile,   205 
TERESA  OF  PORTUGAL.  Saint.  Alfonso  X.  King  of  Leon.  209 

BERENGARIA  OF  CASTILE,  .         .      212 

BEATRIX  OF  SUEVIA,  Ferdinand  III.  The  Saint,  221 

JUANA,  "             "                 223 

VIOLANTE  OF  ARAGON,  Alfonso  II.    Astrologer,       225 

MARIA  THE  GREAT,      .  Sancho  IV.   The  Brave,     231 

CONSTANZA  OF  PORTUGAL,  Ferdinand  IV.      .       •  v*    264 

CONSTANZA  MANUEL,  Alfonso  XII.        ..'-.. '<••*.••    265 

MARIA  OF  PORTUGAL,    .  .-*i'  J.'     270 

BLANCHE  OF  BOURBON,  Pedro.   The  Cruel,        .      283 
JUANA  MANUEL  DE  VILLENA,  Enrique  II.   The  Bastard,  309 

LEONOR  OF  ARAGON,      .  Juan  I.,       .    -             -.      318 


CONTENTS.  xxi 

BEATRIX  OF  PORTUGAL,  "            "                320 

CATHERINE  OF  LANCASTER,  Enrique  III.         .         .      339 

MARIA  OF  ARAGON,      .  Juan  II.   '.                  .      339 

ISABEL  OF  PORTUGAL,  .         .      364 

JUANA  OF  PORTUGAL,  Enrique  IV.  The  Impotent.  379 


GOTHIC    QUEENS; 


415  TO  714. 


GOTHIC  QUEENS, 


PLACIDIA. 
415. 

REIGN   OF   ATAULFUS  THE   FIRST   KING   OF  THE   GOTHS   IN   SPAIN. 

PLACIDIA,  daughter  of  the  Emperor  Theodosius,  by 
his  second  wife,  G-alla,  the  daughter  of  Yalentinian 
and  Justin,  was,  after  the  sack  of  Rome  by  the  G-otha 
under  Alaric,  in  the  year  410,  married  to  Ataulfus, 
that  chieftain's  brother-in-law.  After  the  death  of 
Alaric,  having  succeeded  him  as  king  of  the  Groths, 
Ataulfus,  with  the  sanction  of  his  brother-in-law,  the 
Emperor  Honorius,  possessed  himself  of  the  country 
adjoining  the  Pyrenees  and  established  his  court  at 
Narbonne.  This  took  place  in  the  year  415,  and 
in  the  following  the  Groths  passed  over  into  Spain. 
Ataulfus,  influenced,  doubtless,  by  his  wife,  inclined 
to  maintaining  peace  with  the  Romans  ;  but  his 
wishes  on  this  point  were  little  in  unison  with  the 
turbulent  and  warlike  disposition  of  his  subjects,  and 
he  was  shortly  after  murdered  in  Barcelona,  by  a 
favorite  of  the  name  of  Vernulfus.  He  was  succeed- 
ed by  Sigerie,  who  on  his  accession  to  the  throne, 


4  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

ordered  the  six  children  of  his  predecessor  to  be 
put  to  death,  and  their  widowed  mother  was  forced 
to  adorn  his  triumph  by  walking  barefoot  in  the 
procession  through  the  streets  of  Barcelona,  which 
so  enraged  the  people  that  they  rose  and  slew  the 
barbarian.  They  now  chose  Walia,  a  restless  spirit, 
who  commenced  his  reign  by  collecting  a  large 
fleet,  with  the  intention  of  passing  over  into  Africa  ; 
but  his  armament  being  dispersed  by  a  storm,  he 
was  compelled  to  return  to  Spain,  and  enter  into 
an  agreement  with  Honorius,  Emperor  of  the  West, 
one  of  the  conditions  of  which  was,  that  Placidia, 
the  widow  of  Ataulfus,  who  had,  since  her  hus- 
band's death,  resided  among  the  Goths,  by  whom  she 
was  treated  with  great  respect,  should  return  to  the 
court  of  the  Emperor  her  brother.  The  (roths  also 
bound  themselves  to  make  war  on  the  other  barbarous 
nations  settled  in  Spain,  what  they  should  gain  in  so 
doing  to  belong  to  the  Romans,  they  themselves  to 
remain  content  with  the  possessions  already  assigned 
them  on  the  borders  of  France  and  Spain. 

Placidia  was  married  in  418  to  Constantius,  whom 
Honorius  made  his  partner  in  the  empire.  Constan- 
tins  died  at  Ravenna,  leaving  by  his  wife  Placidia  an 
infant  son,  whom  his  uncle  Honorius  adopted  and 
named  his  successor.  Honorius  dying  in  423,  Pla- 
cida  governed  the  empire  during  the  minority  of  her 
son  Valentinian,  who  became  emperor  of  the  West. 

Of  the  wives  of  Signic,  Walia  and  Theodorid, 
history  makes  no  mention.  The  last-named  king  had 


THUDICODA.  O 

a  numerous  progeny,  who  materially  contributed  to 
the  extension  of  the  power  of  the  (roths  in  Spain. 
His  six  sons  were  Torismund,  Theodoric,  Enric, 
Frederic,  Ruciner  and  Himeric.  He  had  also  two 
daughters,  one  of  whom  married  Himeric,  the  Van- 
dal, son  of  Genseric.  This  unfortunate  princess  was 
treated  with  great  barbarity  by  her  savage  husband, 
who,  on  a  suspicion  that  afterwards  proved  un- 
founded, ordered  her  nose  to  be  cut  off  and  sent  her  back 
to  her  father.  The  other  daughter  was  married  to 
Recciaris,  king  of  the  Seuvi  in  Spain. 


THEUDICODA. 

486. 

REIGN     OF    ALAEIC. 

OF  the  wife  of  Alaric,  the  eighth  king  of  the 
Goths,  little  is  known,  save  that  her  name  was  Theu- 
dicoda,  that  she  was  the  daughter  of  Theodoric,  king  of 
the  Ostrogoths,  and  the  mother  of  Amalaric,  who 
subsequently  became  king  of  the  Goths.  Alaric, 
who  ascended  the  throne  in  486,  was  killed  in  a  battle 
fought  in  the  year  506,  between  the  Gauls  and  the 
Franks  under  Clovis.  The  latter,  by  the  victory,  was 
enabled  to  possess  himself  of  nearly  all  the  dominions 
of  the  Goths  in  the  south  of  France,  and  even  of  their 
capital,  Toulouse. 


O  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

CLOTILDA, 

(FIRST  CATHOLIC    auEEN  OF  THE  GOTHS.) 
526. 

REIGN   OF   AMALARIC. 

THE  next  queen  of  the  Groths  on  record  is  Clotilda, 
the  daughter  of  Clovis,  the  first  king  of  France.  This 
princess,  having  married  Amalaric,  king  of  the  (roths, 
brought  him  as  her  dower  the  city  of  Toulouse. 
Clotilda  having  been  brought  up  in  the  tenets  of  the 
Catholic  faith,  and  her  husband  being  an  Arian,  the 
difference  in  their  religious  creeds  soon  occasioned  do- 
mestic dissensions.  On  her  way  to  and  from  church, 
the  queen  was  abused  and  insulted  by  the  populace, 
who  even  carried  their  insolence  so  far  as  to  throw 
dirt  upon  her ;  and  the  king,  far  from  endeavoring  to 
protect  her  from  the  insults  of  his  subjects,  not  only 
reproached  and  threatened  her,  but  even  struck  her 
repeatedly.  Finding  that  mildness  and  patience  were 
inefficient  to  soften  his  temper  or  appease  his  resent- 
ment, the  ill-used  queen  determined  to  implore  the 
interference  of  her  brother  Childebert,  and  with  her 
letter  sent  him  a  handkerchief  saturated  with  the 
blood  drawn  from  her  by  the  blows  of  the  barbarian. 
The  kingdom  of  the  Franks  was  then  divided  among 
the  sons  of  Clovis.  Childebert  was  lord  of  Paris, 
Clotarius  of  Soissons,  Clodomirus  of  Orleans,  and  The- 
odoric  of  Metz,  all  bearing  the  title  of  kings.  En- 
raged at  the  wrongs  inflicted  on  their  sister,  the 


CLOTILDA. 


brothers  united  their  forces,  and  marched  in  haste  to 
her  relief.  Amalaric  being  totally  unprepared  to 
meet  so  large  a  body  of  troops,  and  being  as  deficient 
in  courage  as  he  was  in  means,  determined  to  fly.  It 
was  fated,  however,  that  cowardice  and  cruelty  such 
as  his  should  not  go  unpunished,  for  blinded  by  avarice 
to  the  danger  he  incurred,  though  he  had  managed  to 
escape  from  the  city,  (supposed  to  be  Barcelona,)  he 
returned  to  it  in  the  hope  of  securing  his  treasures, 
and  was  slain  by  a  soldier  while  endeavoring  to  seek 
shelter  in  a  church-  Some  authors  affirm  he  was 
killed  in  a  battle  fought  near  Narbonne,  but  Gregory 
of  Tours  relates  the  manner  of  his  death  as  given 
above,  and  this  account  is  the  most  credited.  Amala- 
ricus  died  in  531.  Clotilda  is  said  to  have  been  an 
amiable  princess,  but  she  was  doubtless  actuated  by 
the  desire  of  imitating  her  mother,  who  had  succeeded 
in  converting  her  husband  and  many  of  his  subjects 
to  the  Catholic  faith.  The  efforts  of  the  queen  of  the 
Goths  were  not,  however,  crowned  with  equal  success, 
and  after  occasioning  a  bloody  war,  which  did  not  end 
with  the  death  of  her  husband,  she  died  on  her  return 
to  her  native  France.  Thus,  will  the  best  intentions, 
if  we  attempt  to  carry  them  out  without  a  due  regard 
to  time,  place,  and  circumstances,  produce  the  most 
disastrous  effects.  In  the  fifth  and  last  year  of  the 
reign  of  Amalaric,  was  held  the  second  council  of 
Toledo,  over  which  presided  Montanus,  Archbishop 
of  that  city,  of  whom  it  is  related,  that  being  accused 
of  incontinency,  to  prove  his  innocence  he  held  a 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

quantity  of  burning  coals  in  his  bosom  during  the 
performance  of  mass,  and  that  although  when  taken 
out  they  were  as  hot  as  when  first  put  in,  yet  neither 
his  flesh  nor  his  linen  were,  burnt.  This  is  supposed 
to  have  been  the  origin  in  Spain  of  the  Trial  by  Or- 
deal, which  was  continued  in  many  places  until 
abolished  by  Honorius  III. 


Amalaric  having  left  no  issue,  Theudis  was  rais- 
ed to  the  throne,  the  large  estate  brought  him  in 
dower  by  his  wife,  which  was  capable  of  furnishing 
two  thousand  fighting  men,  having  been  very  influ- 
ential in  securing  his  election  to  the  regal  dignity. 
Of  the  lady  herself,  however,  nothing  farther  is 
known.  During  the  reign  of  this  king,  Childebert 
and  Clotarius  continued  to  ravage  Spain  for  some 
time,  and  the  war  was  scarcely  ended  when  the  coun- 
try was  afflicted  with  a  plague  that  lasted  two  years, 
and  carried  off  multitudes.  Theudis  died  shortly  after, 
in  the  year  548,  having  reigned  seventeen  years  and 
five  months.  He  was  succeeded  by  Theudiselas,  a 
sensual  and  cruel  prince,  who  reigned  but  eighteen 
months  and  fifteen  days,  and  was  in  turn  succeeded 
in  549  by  Agila,  who,  after  a  reign  of  five  years  and 
three  months,  was  murdered  like  his  predecessors,  in 
554.  Of  the  wives  of  these  three  kings  history  makes 
no  mention. 


GOSUINDA    AND    THEODOSIA.  9 


GOSUINDA  AND  THEODOSIA. 

565    to    588. 

REIGNS   OP    ATHANAGILD,    LITJVA    AND    LEUVIGILD. 

AGILA  having  been  slain  by  his  rebellious  subject, 
Athanagild,  the  latter  ascended  the  throne.  This 
king  having  endeavored,  despite  his  promises  to  the 
contrary,  to  expel  the  Romans  from  all  Spain,  was 
embroiled  in  continual  wars.  By  his  wife  Grosuinda, 
of  whose  birth  and  parentage  nothing  is  known,  he 
had  two  daughters,  Galsuinde,  the  eldest,  married  to 
Chilperic,  king  of  Soissons,  in  France,  and  Brunehilda 
to  Sigebert,  king  of  Metz  in  Lorraine.  Both  prin- 
cesses proved  particularly  unfortunate.  Athanagild, 
after  a  turbulent  reign  of  fifteen  years  and  six 
months,  died  at  Toledo  in  567.  After  his  death  there 
was  an  interregnum  of  five  months,  at  the  end  of 
which  time,  and  in  the  same  year,  Liuva,  a  powerful 
Groth>  who  had  until  then  been  Viceroy  of  G-allia 
Grotica,  was  proclaimed  king  of  Narbonne.  Of  this 
king  we  find  nothing  of  note  recorded,  save  that,  in 
the  second  year  of  his  reign,  he  named  his  brother 
Leuvigild  his  partner  on  the  throne,  and  left  en- 
tirely to  his  charge  the  dominions  possessed  by  the 
Goths  in  Spain,  while  he  himself  remained  in  France, 
where,  it  is  said,  he  had  reigned  seven  years,  previous 
to  his  being  elected  king  in  Spain.  Leuvigild, 
having  married  Theodosia,  daughter  of  Severianus, 
duke  and  governor  of  the  province  of  Carthagena,  had 
1* 


10  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

by  her,  two  sons,  Ermenegild  and  Recared.  The- 
odosia  was  sister  to  three  saints,  Leander,  Isidorus 
and  Fulgens.  After  the  death  of  Theodosia,  Leu- 
vigild  married  Grosuinda,  the  widow  of  Athanagild. 
This  second  marriage  took  place  about  the  time  he 
was  called  by  his  brother  to  share  the  throne  with 
him.  This  prince,  immediately  on  his  accession,  took 
the  most  active  measures  against  the  Romans,  and, 
by  his  bravery,  activity  and  perseverance,  soon  gained 
great  advantages  over  them,  subduing  the  province 
of  Andalusia,  and  expelling  them  from  all  Spain. 
While  thus  employed,  the  death  of  his  brother  Liuva, 
which  occurred  in  572,  left  him  sole  possessor  of 
the  throne.  Leuvigild  also  attempted  to  expel  the 
Suevians,  who  still  retained  possession  of  a  large  por- 
tion of  Spain,  but  previous  to  setting  out  on  this  expe- 
dition he  determined  to  secure  the  succession  in  his 
own  family,  and  for  this  purpose  associated  with  him 
on  the  throne  his  two  sons  by  Theodosia,  giving  to 
Ermenegild  Seville,  or,  as  some  authors  say,  Merida, 
and  to  Recared  the  city  of  Recopolis,  which  some 
suppose  to  have  been  in  Celtibrua.  His  own  court 
he  thenceforward  held  in  Seville.  To  this  king's 
second  marriage  may  be  attributed  the  civil  wars  that 
desolated  Spain  during  his  reign.  The  cruelty  with 
which  G-osuinda,  actuated  by  the  spirit  of  religious 
fanaticism,  persecuted  her  granddaughter,  Ingundis, 
proves  her  to  have  been  violent,  inhuman,  and  impla- 
cable in  her  resentment.  When  the  princess,  who 
was  a  Catholic,  came  from  France  as  the  bride  of 


GOSUINDA    AND    THEODOSIA.  11 

Prince  Ermenegild,  the  step-son  of  Grosuinda,  the 
latter  treated  her  with  great  kindness,  in  the  hope  of 
inducing  her  to  change  her  religion  and  submit  to  be 
baptized  an  Arian  ;  but  finding  her  persuasions  were 
ineffectual,  she  resorted  to  harsher  measures,  upbraid- 
ing her  in  the  most  insulting  terms.  Not  satisfied 
with  reproaches,  and  exasperated  with  the  resistance 
opposed  to  her  wishes,  the  infuriated  queen  scrupled 
not  to  lay  violent  hands  on  her  grandchild,  dragging 
her  by  the  hair,  and,  on  one  occasion,  pushing  her  into 
a  fish  pond,  from  which  she  was  with  difficulty  res- 
cued. During  the  civil  war  that  ensued  between  the 
king  and  his  son,  Grosuinda  displayed  against  the  lat- 
ter all  the  animosity  of  a  step-mother,  and  continually 
instigated  the  king  to  adopt  the  most  violent  measures. 
Leuvigild  dying  in  the  year  587,  his  son  Recared 
remained  sole  possessor  of  his  father's  throne,  and 
having  been  converted  by  his  uncles,  St.  Leander  and 
St.  Fulgens,  openly  proclaimed  himself  a  Catholic. 
Not  only  his  own  subjects,  but  even  the  Suevians  fol- 
lowed his  example.  The  queen-dowager  feigned  to 
adopt  the  faith  which  had  now  become  that  of  the 
nation,  but  so  forced  was  her  compliance  that  she  was 
seen  to  spit  out  the  holy  sacrament.  She  formed  a 
conspiracy  with  her  favorite,  Bishop  Uldid,  against 
the  king's  life,  but  the  plot  having  been  discovered, 
the  bishop  was  banished.  Grosuinda,  though  she 
escaped  punishment,  died  soon  after  a  natural  death  in 
588. 


12  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

INGfUNDIS. 
571. 

REIGN  OP   LEUVIGILD,    RECARED    AND    ERMENEGILD. 

INGUNDIS  was  the  daughter  of  Sigebert,  king  of 
Lorraine,  and  of  his  queen,  Brunchilde,  and  was 
consequently  the  granddaughter  of  Athanagild  and 
Grosuinda.  Brunehilde  having,  on  her  marriage  with 
the  French  king,  been  converted  to  Catholicism  by  the 
French  bishops,  educated  her  children  in  the  tenets  of 
that  faith,  and  on  the  marriage  of  Ingundis  with  the 
Gothic  prince  Ermenegild,  it  was  expressly  stipu- 
lated that  she  should  be  allowed  to  follow  its  obser- 
vances. The  firm  adhesion  of  the  princess  to  her  own 
creed  subjected  her  to  the  hatred  of  her  grandmother, 
Grosuinda.  The  cruel  usage  to  which  she  was  ex- 
posed had,  however,  no  power  to  induce  her  to  change, 
and  amidst  the  persecutions  to  which  she  was  her- 
self a  prey,  she  undertook  the  conversion  of  the  prince 
her  husband.  In  this  she  was  successful ;  the  absence 
of  Leuvigild,  at  the  time  in  Toledo,  affording  an  ex- 
cellent opportunity,  which  she  failed  not  to  improve, 
being,  moreover,  assisted  by  St.  Lcander,  Bishop  of 
Seville.  Whatever  might  be  the  spiritual  benefits 
accruing  to  the  prince  from  his  compliance  with  his 
wife's  persuasions,  his  worldly  prospects  were  com- 
pletely ruined  by  his  apostasy.  The  usual  conse- 
quences attending  religious  differences  soon  followed, 
the  kingdom  was  divided  into  two  factions,  one  siding 


INGUNDIS.  13 

with  the  father,  the  other  with  the  son,  and  that  worst 
of  all  the  scourges  that  afflict  humanity,  civil  war, 
broke  out  and  raged  long  and  furiously  through  the 
distracted  country.  Ere  matters  came  to  this  ex- 
tremity, Leuvigild  wrote  to  his  son  a  letter,  dictated 
by  the  warm  heart  of  a  father,  endeavoring  by  every 
argument  he  could  adduce  to  persuade  him  to  give  up 
the  faith  he  had  adopted. 

After  reminding  him  of  the  tenderness  with  which 
he  had  brought  him  up,  and  called  him  to  share  the 
regal  authority,  he  accused  him  of  forsaking  the 
creed  of  his  fathers  from  motives  of  interest  and  am- 
bition, and  upbraided  him  for  resorting  to  such  means, 
when,  if  dissatisfied  with  the  favors  bestowed  on  his 
brother  Recared,  he  should  have  applied  to  his 
father  for  redress.  The  king  concluded  his  letter, 
urging  the  prince  to  be  advised  and  submit  in  time  to 
him,  from  whom  he  might  yet  expect  the  forgiveness 
of  a  father,  but  from  whom,  should  he  continue  ob- 
durate, he  could  hope  for  no  mercy.  This  letter  was 
productive  of  no  good  effects,  the  prince  answering  in 
respectful  terms,  but  announcing  his  firm  determina- 
tion to  abide  by  the  course  he  had  chosen.  The  event 
of  the  war  proved  fatal  to  Ermenegild,  who,  after 
enduring  many  hardships  and  reverses,  was,  in  586, 
given  up  to  his  father  by  the  inhabitants  of  Cordova, 
among  whom  he  had  taken  refuge.  He  was  banished 
to  Valencia.  At  Seville,  near  the  gate  of  Cordova,  is 
still  to  be  seen  a  high,  narrow  and  dark  tower  in 
which  it  is  said  the  prince  was  confined,  with  mana- 


14  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

cles  on  his  feet,  and  his  hands  tied  behind  him. 
Not  content  with  the  hardships  he  was  thus  compelled 
to  endure,  the  enthusiastic  fanatic  voluntarily  submit- 
ted to  others,  such  as  lying  on  hair  cloth,  fasting  fre- 
quently, and  observing  the  greatest  austerity  in  his 
diet.  He  continued  this  mode  of  living,  passing  his 
time  in  prayer  and  meditation  until  Easter  of  that 
year,  which  was  celebrated  on  the  fourteenth  of  April, 
when  his  father  having  sent  an  Arian  bishop  to  ad- 
minister the  sacrament  to  him,  the  prince  turned  from 
him  with  contempt.  This  obstinacy  exasperated  the 
king,  who  ordered  his  son  to  be  instantly  beheaded. 
Ermenegild  was  canonized  by  Pope  Sixtus  the  First, 
and  his  festival  is  celebrated  on  the  fourteenth  of 
April.  His  prison  was  subsequently  converted  into  a 
chapel,  which  was  formerly  held  in  great  veneration. 

No  sooner  had  Ingundis,  the  fatal  originator  of  all 
these  evils,  heard  the  news  of  her  husband's  imprison- 
ment and  subsequent  death,  than  she  took  refuge  in 
Africa,  with  her  infant  son  Theodoric.  At  the  com- 
mencement of  the  war,  Ermenegild  had  confided  his 
wife  and  child  to  the  protection  of  the  Romans 
Peace  was  not  restored  by  the  death  of  the  prince  and 
defeat  of  his  party ;  Childebert,  brother  of  Ingundis, 
and  Grontrand,  her  uncle,  resolved  on  revenging  her 
wrongs  and  the  death  of  her  husband,  and  a  war  was 
kindled  between  the  Franks  and  Groths  that  lasted 
some  time  after  the  death  of  Ingundis.  Authors  do 
not  agree  as  to  the  place  where  she  died — some  say  it 


BADA    AND    CLODOSINDA.  15 

was  in  Africa,  others  in  Spain,  neither  is  any  mention 
made  of  what  became  of  her  son. 


BADA  AND   CLODOSINDA. 

594. 

REIGN  OF  RECARED. 

RECARED  having,  by  the  death  of  Leovigild  in 
585,  become  sole  king  of  the  Groths,  his  first  care  was 
to  conclude  peace  with  the  Franks,  and  to  this  end  he 
solicited  the  hand  of  Clodosinda,  sister  of  Childebert. 
Recared  was  at  the  time  a  widower.  Of  his  first 
wife,  the  lady  Bada,  little  is  known,  some  authors 
asserting  that  she  was  of  the  noblest  blood  in  Spain, 
and  the  daughter  of  Fontus,  Count  of  the  Patrimonii  ; 
others  that  she  was  the  daughter  of  King  Arthur  of 
England.  This  lady  was  the  mother  of  Liuva,  who 
succeeded  his  father. 

Of  Clodosinda,  the  second  wife  of  Recared,  as 
little  is  known.  Before  her  marriage  in  594  with  the 
king  of  the  Groths,  she  had  been  betrothed  to  Anthari, 
king  of  the  Longobards,  but  as  this  king  was  a  pagan, 
the  alliance  of  Recared,  who  had  become  a  Catholic, 
was  preferred.  Recared  was  the  father  of  two 
other  sons,  called  Suinthila  and  Geila,  but  it  is  not 
known  by  what  mother.  This  king  died  in  601,  after 
a  reign  of  sixteen  years,  one  month  and  ten  days. 


16  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

OF  the  wives  of  the  fifteen  kings  who  successively 
ascended  the  throne  of  the  Goths  from  the  period  of 
the  death  of  Recaredus,  until  the  accession  in  711  of 
Don  Roderick,  the  last  of  the  Gothic  princes,  but  five 
are  mentioned  in  history,  which  gives  us  their  names 
alone. 

Hilduara,  the  wife  of  Grundemar,  who  ascended 
the  throne  in  610,  and  reigned  one  year,  ten  months 
and  ten  days. 

Theodora,  the  wife  of  Suinthila,  who,  after  reign- 
ing ten  years,  was  deposed  in  631.  Theodora  was 
the  mother  of  one  son,  Rechimirus. 

Riceberga,  the  wife  of  Chindasuinth,  by  whom 
she  had  three  sons,  Recesuinth,  Theodofrid,  and  Fa- 
vila,  the  father  of  Pelagius,  the  restorer  of  the  Span- 
ish monarchy.  Riceberga  had  also  one  daughter, 
whose  name  is  not  known.  Chindasuinth  died  648. 

Labigotona,  the  wife  of  Ervigius,  who  usurped  the 
throne  in  680,  and  died  in  687. 

Cbdlona,  the  wife  of  Egica,  by  whom  she  became 
the  mother  of  Witiza  and  of  Oppas,  the  Archbishop 
who  subsequently  leagued  with  Count  Julian  to  call 
the  Moors  into  Spain.  Cixilona  had  also  a  daughter, 
who  married  Count  Julian.  Egica  was  elected  in 
687,  and  died  in  701.  During  the  reign  of  this  king, 
a  law  was  enacted  that  every  queen  who  survived  her 
husband  should  become  a  nun,  that  she  might  never 
be  exposed  to  insult. 


EGH.ONA.  17 

EG-ILONA. 

REIGN  OF   RODEKICK, 

RODERICK,  the  son  of  Theodofrid,  second  son  of 
Chindasuinth  and  Recilona,  was  chosen  king  by  the 
Gothic  nobles  in  711,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  sons  of 
Witiza,  his  tyrannical  predecessor  on  the  throne. 
Roderick  was  the  last  of  the  G-othic  kings,  and  with 
him  ended  the  empire  of  the  Goths  in  Spain,  after  it 
had  lasted  upwards  of  300  years.  Roderick  is  de- 
scribed as  having  been  a  prince  of  excellent  natural 
parts,  resolute,  bountiful,  and  of  winning  manners, 
but  implacable  in  his  resentments.  The  fatal  cause 
of  his  ruin,  and  that  of  his  kingdom,  was  Fiorinda*, 
or,  as  she  is  often  called  by  ancient  writers,  Cava,  the 
daughter  of  Count  Julian,  one  of  the  most  powerful 
of  the  Gothic  nobles,  governor,  at  the  time,  of  that 
part  of  Barbary  called  Mauritania  Tingitana,  then 
subject  to  the  Groths.  Count  Julian  had  also  the  gov- 
ernment of  that  part  of  Spain  adjoining  the  straits  of 
Gibralter,  and  was  besides  possessed  of  a  large  estate 
near  Consuegra.  The  king  had  married  Egilona, 
whose  birth,  parentage,  and  age  are  unknown,  but 
who  is  represented  as  being  still  young  and  exceed- 
ingly beautiful  at  the  time  of  the  king's  death.  It  was 
customary  for  the  children  of  the  nobility  to  be  edu- 
cated at  court,  the  sons  attending  on  the  king's  per- 

*  Subsequently  called  Cava,  a  Moorish  word,  signifying  Wicked 
Woman .' 


18  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

son,  and  the  daughters  being  attached  to  the  queen's 
household.  The  rare  beauty  of  Florinda  soon  attract- 
ed the  notice  of  Roderick,  who  became  deeply  ena- 
mored of  her,  and  vainly  sought  a  return  of  affec- 
tion. The  resistance  opposed  to  his  wishes  but  served 
as  an  incentive  to  the  passion  of  the  king,  inflaming  a 
temperament  but  too  ardent  by  nature,  and,  in  an  un- 
guarded moment,  forgetful  of  consequences,  he  is  said 
to  have  obtained  by  violence  that  which  was  denied 
to  love.  The  enraged  Florinda  immediately  wrote  to 
her  father,  then  in  Africa,  demanding  vengeance,  and 
to  punish  a  private  wrong  the  traitor  count  leagued 
with  Infidels,  and  betrayed  into  their  hands  both  king 
and  country.  Some  authors  affirm  that  Florinda  will- 
ingly became  the  king's  mistress.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
his  daughter's  dishonor  was  the  pretext  of  the  Count's 
treachery.  The  power  of  the  Saracens  had  now  risen 
to  a  great  height,  for  they  had  not  only  subdued  the 
greater  part  of  Asia,  but  had  overrun  all  Africa  from 
Egypt,  along  the  banks  of  the  Mediterranean,  to  the 
ocean.  Count  Julian,  on  his  way  to  Africa,  assembled 
the  malcontent  nobles,  of  whom  there  were  many,  on  a 
mountain  near  Consuegra,  called  from  that  day  Calde- 
rino,  which  in  Arabic  signifies,  Mountain  of  Treason, 
and  there  it  was  agreed  to  invite  the  Moors  into  Spain. 
Having  repaired  to  Muza,  who  governed  Africa  as 
lieutenant  to  Ulit,  the  reigning  sovereign  of  the 
Moors,  he  preferred  to  him  his  complaint  against  Ro- 
derick, and  represented  the  ease  with  which  the  king- 
dom of  Spain,  weakened  by  internal  divisions,  might 


EGILONA.  19 

be  conquered,  and  form  the  key  to  the  rest  of  Europe. 
Muza,  having  consulted  his  master,  sent  over  a  large 
body  of  men  to  try  the  sincerity  of  the  Conde's  pro- 
mises, and  these  having  proved  successful,  though 
opposed  by  the  troops  of  Roderick,  commanded  by  his 
cousin  Sancho,  Muza  sent  over  a  much  larger  force. 
The  battle  that  finally  decided  the  fate  of  the  Chris- 
tians was  fought  in  Andalusia,  near  Pentz,  on  the 
llth  of  November,  714,  and  ended  with  the  total  de- 
feat and  rout  of  the  king's  army.  The  two  armies 
being  drawn  up,  Don*  Roderick  appeared,  according 
to  the  customs  of  the  Goths,  attired  in  cloth  of  gold 
and  seated  in  an  ivory  chariot,  he  rode  through  the 
ranks,  encouraging  his  soldiers.  The  Groths,  though 

*  Some  authors  affirm  that  Roderick  was  the  first  Spanish  king 
to  whom  was  given  the  title  of  Don. 

The  overthrow  of  the  empire  of  the  Goths  is  said  to  have  heen 
accelerated  by  the  last  of  their  sovereigns  in  more  ways  than  one, 
and  for  the  gratification  of  the  lovers  of  the  marvelous  we  will  re- 
late the  following  tradition  as  found  in  the  old  chronicles.  In  the 
city  of  Toledo  there  was  an  ancient  palace  that  for  many  years  had 
been  closed,  none  of  the  predecessors  of  Roderic  having  ventured 
to  open  its  gates,  deterred  by  a  prophecy  that  predicted  the  ruin  of 
the  king  who  should  dare  to  enter  it.  Roderick,  scorning  a  warn- 
ing he  suspected  was  intended  to  guard  some  hidden  treasure,  re- 
specting neither  bolts  nor  bars,  forcibly  entered  the  forbidden  pre- 
cincts. Nothing  was  found  within,  save  a  large  chest  carefully 
locked,  which  being  opened  contained  a  large  painting  representing 
knights  and  soldiers  in  Moorish  costumes,  on  horseback  and  on 
foot,  with  unfurled  banners ;  the  painting,  moreover,  bore  a  Latin 
inscription,  purporting  that  when  the  palace  should  be  opened,  and 
the  painting  brought  to  light,  the  kingdom  of  Spain  would  become 
the  prey  of  the  men  therein  portrayed. 


20  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

undisciplined  and  ill-armed,  the  majority  having  but 
slings  and  clubs,  were  in  such  numbers,  (100,000  men 
at  the  lowest  computation,)  as  to  render  the  issue  for 
some  time  dubious,  but  Oppas,  the  Archbishop,  partner 
in  the  treason  of  the  infamous  Conde,  having,  as  pre- 
concerted, gone  over  to  the  Moors  with  a  large  body  of 
troops  in  the  heat  of  the  fight,  the  remainder  of  the 
Groths,  astounded  at  this  unparalleled  treachery,  began 
to  give  way,  and  the  rout  soon  became  general.  The 
king,  in  this  trying  crisis,  displayed  in  an  eminent 
degree  the  qualities  of  a  brave  soldier  and  wise  gene- 
ral, relieving  the  points  he  saw  were  weakest,  replac- 
ing with  fresh  men  the  tired  troops,  encouraging  those 
who  stood  their  ground,  and  rallying  the  panic-struck 
fugitives.  All  hope  being  lost,  he  was  at  length  com- 
pelled to  abandon  his  chariot,  and  mounting  his 
favorite  steed  Orelia,  take  to  flight,  in  order  to  avoid 
being  captured  by  the  Saracens.  The  ill-fated  Rode- 
rick was  never  seen  afterwards,  and  it  was  conjectured 
he  was  drowned  endeavoring  to  ford  the  river  Gruada- 
lete,  as  his  horse,  part  of  his  dress,  and  his  buskins, 
embroidered  with  pearls  and  precious  stones,  were 
found  on  the  banks.  His  body,  however,  was  never 
found,  and  this  circumstance  gave  rise  to  many  sto- 
ries and  improbable  surmises  as  to  his  fate.  Spain 
had  some  years  previous  to  the  invasion  of  the  Moors 
been  greatly  weakened  by  a  famine  and  a  plague,  and 
these  causes,  joined  to  the  dissensions  that  agitated 
the  kingdom  immediately  before  the  accession  of  Ro- 
derick, no  doubt  largely  contributed  to  the  success  of 


EGILONA.  21 

the  invaders,  who  now  poured  in  from  Africa  in  mul- 
titudes, and  drove  the  Christians  into  the  mountain 
fastnesses,  whither  their  enemies  cared  not  to  pursue 
them.  Every  city  that  from  some  fortunate  circum- 
stance continued  to  hold  out  against  the  Moors,  chose 
a  chief,  or  governor,  who,  being  amenable  to  no 
authority,  and  enjoying  almost  absolute  power,  soon 
became  a  petty  king,  and,  in  some  cases,  assumed 
that  title ;  hence  the  origin  and  rise  of  the  subsequent 
subdivision  of  Spain  into  small  monarchies  and  pow- 
erful earldoms,  (Condados.) 

Of  Egilona  we  find  small  mention  during  the  reign 
of  her  husband,  but  her  charms  having,  after  the 
king's  death,  attracted  the  notice  and  admiration  of 
Abdalasis,  the  son  of  Muza,  who  had  been  appointed 
to  govern  in  his  father's  absence,  she  became  his  wife. 
The  captive  queen  was  not  long  in  achieving  the  con- 
quest of  the  young  Moorish  chieftain,  for  we  are  told 
that  when  the  prisoners  were  brought  before  him,  he 
was  so  much  struck  with  the  exquisite  beauty  of 
Egilona,  that  he  immediately  offered  her  his  hand, 
promising  she  should  enjoy  the  free  exercise  of  her 
own  creed.  It  is  probable  the  lady  was  not  inconso- 
lable for  the  loss  of  her  brave  but  faithless  lord,  and 
had  not  his  equally  gallant  successor  been  her  coun- 
try's enslaver,  her  prompt  acceptance  had  been  excus- 
able. Egilona  was  as  accomplished  as  she  was  beau- 
tiful, and  her  fond  husband  allowed  himself  to  be  en- 
tirely governed  by  her  advice.  Though  her  mental 
qualities  are  as  highly  extolled  as  her  personal  charms, 


22  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

she  did  not  show  herself  possessed  of  prudence,  for 
she  advised  her  husband  to  a  step  which  ultimately 
proved  fatal  to  him.  She  represented  to  Abdalasis 
that,  possessing  as  he  did  the  power  and  authority  of 
a  sovereign,  he  should  also  assume  the  title.  The 
vanity  of  the  ex-queen  was  wounded  that  her  second 
lord  should  be  less  in  name,  if  not  inferior  in  authority, 
to  the  first,  and  she  insisted  that  Abdalasis  should 
place  on  his  brows  the  garland  of  which  the  unfortu- 
nate Groth  had  been  despoiled.  This,  however,  occa- 
sioned a  revolt  among  the  Moors  themselves,  and  the 
chieftain  was  slain  in  a  mosque  in  719.  The  date  of 
the  queen's  death  is  unknown.  "We  have  no  authen- 
tic account  of  the  subsequent  fate  of  the  traitors,  who 
sacrificed  their  religion,  their  king,  and  their  country, 
to  their  own  private  interests,  but  tradition  says  they 
were  punished  by  the  very  ones  who  reaped  the  fruits 
of  their  crimes.  Count  Julian  is  said  to  have  been 
deprived  by  the  Moors  of  all  his  vast  possessions,  and 
condemned  to  perpetual  imprisonment,  after  having 
seen  his  wife  stoned  to  death,  and  one  of  his  sons 
thrown  headlong  from  a  tower  in  Ceuta. 

NOTE. — Some  writers  affect  to  treat  the  stories  of  Florinda,  Ber- 
nardo del  Carpio,  the  Cid  Campeador  and  others,  with  utter  con- 
tempt, as  mere  fables  sanctified  by  time,  but  totally  unworthy 
of  belief.  If  we  refuse  to  give  credence  to  tradition,  we  reject 
almost  the  only  materials  for  the  early  history  not  only  of  Spain 
but  of  many  other  nations.  Besides, these  traditions  have  as  many 
authorities  to  support  as  to  refute  them.  An  excellent  modern 
historian  says  that :  "  No  one  who  studies  history  ought  to  de- 
spise tradition,  for  we  shall  find  that  tradition  is  generally  founded 
on  fact,  even  when  defective  or  regardless  of  chronology." 


QUEENS  OF  OVIEDO  AND  LEON, 


718  TO  1037. 


QUEENS  OF  OVIEDO  AND  LEON, 


GANDIOSA. 
718. 

REIGN    OF    DON    PELAYO. 

PELAYO,  the  renowned  hero  of  many  an  old  ballad, 
the  restorer  of  the  Spanish  monarchy,  a  prince  en- 
dowed with  all  the  qualities  necessary  in  a  chief  and 
a  ruler  in  those  difficult  and  dangerous  times,  was  of 
the  blood  royal  of  the  G-oths,  the  son  of  Favila,  the 
third  son  of  Chindasuinth,  and  consequently  a  cousin 
of  King  Rodrigo.  After  the  fatal  battle  that  left. 
Spain  a  prey  to  the  Saracen,  and  in  which  he  is  said 
to  have  fought,  Pelayo  retired  to  his  own  estate,  situ- 
ated in  the  most  remote  part  of  Biscay,  where  it  is 
probable  he  might  have  passed  his  life  in  retirement, 
had  not  an  event  of  a  nearly  similar  nature  to  that 
which  had  occasioned  the  ruin  of  the  Christians, 
occurred  to  draw  him  from  his  inglorious  obscurity, 
and  enable  him  to  win  the  undying  laurels  that  for 
centuries  have  crowned  his  name.  Although  the 


26  THE    QUEENS    OK    SPAIN. 

Moors  had  overrun  nearly  all  Spain,  and  settled  them- 
selves in  its  fertile  plains,  the  Christians  still  held  out 
in  some  parts  of  Navarre,  Biscay,  Gralicia,  and  As- 
turias,  the  almost  inaccessible  nature  of  the  country 
in  which  they  had  taken  refuge  favoring  them  as 
much  as  the  carelessness  of  the  Moors,  who,  satisfied 
with  the  rich  possessions  they  enjoyed,  allowed  their 
vanquished  foes  the  undisputed  occupation  of  the 
almost  barren  mountain  wilds.  The  Christians,  in 
their  rocky  retreats,  had  the  free  exercise  of  their  own 
religion,  and  maintained  their  own  churches  and  mon- 
asteries as  before.  Besides  these  Christians,  there 
were  many  towns  that  had  freely  submitted  to  the 
invader,  on  condition  they  should  be  allowed  to  retain 
their  own  creed,  laws,  and  customs,  and  also  their 
possessions,  paying  to  the  Moors  a  stipulated  tax  or 
tribute.  Two  years  after  the  conquest  of  Spain,  the 
Saracens,  having  resolved  to  dispossess  the  Groths  of 
their  dominions  in  France,  passed  the  Pyrenees,  and 
broke  into  that  country  with  a  large  army.  The 
moment  seemed  propitious  for  the  Christians  to  rally 
and  endeavor  to  recover  their  lost  liberty.  A  chieftain 
alone  was  wanting,  and  none  seemed  better  fitted  to 
fill  this  post  than  Pelayo.  The  enterprise,  however, 
was  pregnant  with  such  difficulty  and  danger,  and  the 
consequences,  in  case  of  failure,  would  have  been  so 
disastrous,  that  the  weak  and  disheartened  Spaniards 
might  never  have  made  the  attempt,  had  not  an  un- 
foreseen circumstance  roused  their  energies  and  nerved 
them  to  action.  The  beauty  of  a  woman  again  prov- 


GANDIOSA.  27 

ed  the  firebrand  to  kindle  the  torch  of  war,  and  a  sis- 
ter of  Pelayo  was  the  fatal  cause  of  the  downfall 
of  the  Saracens,  as  Florinda  had  been  that  of  the 
Goths.  Munuza,  who,  although  a  Christian,  was 
governor  of  Grijon  for  the  Moors,  became  deeply  ena- 
mored of  this  lady,  then  in  the  prime  of  her  age,  and 
celebrated  for  her  extraordinary  beauty.  Aware  that 
Pelayo  would  never  sanction  his  sister's  marrying  one 
whom  the  high-born  Groth  considered  a  renegade  far 
beneath  him  in  every  respect,  the  wily  Moor  contrived 
to  send  him  to  treat  of  important  affairs  in  Africa, 
and  availed  himself  of  his  absence  to  seduce  the  frail 
fair  one.  Pelayo,  on  his  return,  being  made  aware  of 
the  dishonor  that  had  fallen  on  his  family,  dissembled 
his  desire  for  revenge  until  an  opportunity  occurred  of 
recovering  his  sister,  with  whom  he  fled  into  the 
neighboring  mountains  of  Asturias.  Munuza,  forsee- 
ing  the  consequences  that  were  likely  to  ensue,  from 
the  resentment  of  a  man  possessed  of  so  much  influ- 
ence, advised  Tarif  of  what  had  occurred,  and  that 
chief  instantly  dispatched  a  body  of  troops  from  Cor- 
dova in  pursuit  of  the  fugitives.  The  Moorish  cava- 
liers would  infallibly  have  captured  the  unprotected 
fugitives,  had  not  Pelayo,  setting  spurs  to  his  horse, 
compelled  him  to  ford  the  river  Pionia,  at  the  time 
much  swollen  and  exceedingly  rapid,  thus  effecting 
his  escape,  his  baffled  pursuers  not  daring  to  incur  so 
imminent  a  danger.  Having  erected  his  standard  in 
the  valley  of  Cangas,  then  called  Canica,  many  flocked 
to  join  him  ;  the  majority,  doubtless,  rather  in  the 


28  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

hope  of  serving  their  private  ends,  than  actuated  by 
that  of  rescuing  their  groaning  country  from  the 
debasing  thraldom  of  the  Mussulman.  The  Asturians, 
a  brave,  hardy,  and  proud  people,  answered  to  a  man 
the  call.  Having  assembled  the  chief  among  them, 
Pelayo,  in  an  impassioned  speech,  exposed  the  griefs, 
the  vexatious  humiliations  the  Christians,  daily,  hour- 
ly, endured  from  their  tyrannic  enslavers,  and  the 
manifold  reasons  that  concurred  lo  indue  j  them  to 
seize  the  present  favorable  opportunity  of  throwing  off 
the  ignominious  yoke  of  the  Infidel.  The  enthusiasm 
of  his  hearers  afforded  ample  proof  of  the  eloquence  of 
his  appeal  to  their  better  feelings,  for  one  and  all  swore 
to  adhere  faithfully  to  the  religious  and  patriotic  cause, 
and  lay  down  life  rather  than  continue  to  breathe  it 
in  slavery.  Pelayo  having,  by  unanimous  consent, 
been,  chosen  to  command,  and  invested  with  the  au- 
thority and  title  of  king,  took  immediate  measures  to 
conquer  the  kingdom  of  which  he  was  as  yet  but  the 
nominal  sovereign.  The  prince  was  crowned  in  716, 
according  to  some,  in  718  according  to  others,  and  by 
his  bravery  and  perseverance  soon  took  many  places 
from  the  Moors.  The  inhabitants  of  Cralicia  and  Bis- 
cay, a  race  of  sturdy  mountaineers  that  had  never 
been  wholly  subdued,  were  invited  to  join  in  the  en- 
terprise, and  the  revolt  spread  widely,  though  it  was 
not  until  many  centuries  later  that  the  Moors  were 
totally  expelled  from  Spain.  Pelayo  having  descended 
into  the  plains,  took  the  city  of  Leon  in  722.  Some 
authors  affirm  that  he  was  styled  King  of  Leon,  but 


FROLENA.  29 

the  majority  say  that  Ordono  II.  was  the  first  that 
assumed  that  title,  his  predecessors  having  merely 
borne  that  of  king  of  Oviedo.  The  most  proper  cer- 
tainly seems  to  be  that  of  king  of  Leon,  as,  on  the 
taking  of  that  city,  the  arms  of  the  Grothic  sovereigns 
were  changed  into  argent,  a  lion  rampant,  gules, 
which  are  still  those  of  the  present  day.  Leon,  in 
Spanish,  signifying  lion.  Pelayo  died  in  737.  Of  the 
wife  of  Pelayo  nothing  of  note  is  recorded,  beyond  her 
being  the  mother  of  Ormesinda  and  Favila,  who  both 
ascended  the  throne. 


FROLENA. 

737- 

FAVILA. 

PELAYO  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Favila,  a  prince 
who,  far  from  following  in  the  footsteps  of  his  re- 
nowned father,  was  solely  addicted  to  his  pleasures, 
and  especially  to  that  of  the  chase,  which  in  the  end 
proved  fatal  to  him,  as  he  was  killed  by  a  boar,  after 
a  reign  of  two  years.  Of  his  wife,  Frolena,  we  know 
nothing  save  her  name,  and  that  she  left  no  issue. 


30  THE    QUEENS    OP    SPAIN. 

ORMESINDA. 

(FIRST  CIUEEN   WHO  REIGNED  IN  HER  OWN  RIGHT.) 
739. 

DON  ALFONSO  I.,  THE  CATHOLIC. 

FAVILA  having  left  no  heirs,  Don  Alfonso  I.,  sur- 
named  the  Catholic,  from  his  piety,  and  his  wife, 
Ormesinda,  were,  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  Pe- 
layo,  proclaimed,  in  739,  sovereigns  of  Oviedo.  The 
valor  of  this  prince  having  greatly  contributed  to  the 
success  of  the  Christians,  Pelayo  had  bestowed  on  him 
the  hand  of  his  only  daughter.  Don  Alfonso  was  the 
son  of  Pedro,  Duke  of  Biscay,  and  a  descendant  of 
King  Recared.  This  prince,  who  was  possessed  in 
an  eminent  degree  of  the  qualities  of  a  warrior  and  a 
statesman,  was  particularly  successful  in  all  his  en- 
terprises, and  greatly  beloved  by  his  people.  The 
Moors  being  engaged  in  wars  in  France,  and  weak- 
ened by  domestic  broils,  Don  Alfonso  was  enabled 
greatly  to  enlarge  the  bounds  of  his  dominions,  taking 
from  them  many  towns,  a  number  of  which  were, 
however,  retaken  by  them  during  the  subsequent 
reigns.  By  his  wife,  Ormesinda,  he  had  three  sons, 
Froila,  Bimaranus,  Aurelius,  and  one  daughter,  Ado- 
sinda.  By  a  mistress,  said  to  have  been  a  slave,  he 
left  a  son,  Mauregatus.  Don  Alfonso  died  in  757, 
having  reigned  eighteen  years.  Ormesinda  is  said  to 
have  been  buried  beside  her  husband  at  Cangas,  in 


AMULINA.  31 

the  monastery  of  St.  Mary,  having  died  previously  to 
Alfonso,  but  the  date  of  her  death  is  not  recorded. 
Many  and  grave  authors  relate  that  at  the  time  of 
Alfonso's  death,  celestial  voices  were  heard  singing  in 
the  apartment  of  the  expiring  monarch. 


AMULINA. 

FROILA. 

FROILA  succeeded  his  father,  Don  Alfonso.  In  one 
of  his  military  expeditions  to  Gralicia,  he  married  Am- 
uliua  or  Momerana.  the  daughter  of  Eudo,  Duke  of 
Aquitaine,  and  by  this  lady  he  had  a  son,  Don  Alfonso 
II.,  who  subsequently  ascended  the  throne,  and  a 
daughter,  Dona  Ximena,  mother  of  the  famous  Ber- 
nardo del  Carpio.  Froila,  who  had  inherited  his 
father's  valor,  would  have  been  reckoned  one  of 
Spain's  best  princes,  had  he  not  left  an  indelible  stain 
on  his  memory,  by  the  murder  of  his  brother,  Bima- 
ranus,  whom  he  suspected  wrongfully  of  aspiring  to 
the  throne.  In  order  to  allay,  in  some  measure,  the 
odium  he  had  incurred  by  this  fratricide,  he  adopted 
and  named  as  his  successor,  Bermudo,  the  son  of  his 
murdered  victim ;  but  this  tardy  atonement  availed 
him  not,  as  he  was  slain  at  Cangas,  shortly  after,  by 
his  other  brother,  Aurelius.  Some  say,*  Bermudo 

*  Garibnv.  amo  £  others. 


32  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

was   the   son   of   Froila   himself.     The   date  of    the 
queen's  death  is  unknown. 


ADOSINDA. 

(SECOND  QUEEN  THAT  REIGNED  IN  HER  OWN  RIGHT). 
774. 

SILON. 

AURELIUS  having  succeeded  his  brother,  in  order  to 
strengthen  himself  on  the  throne,  gave  his  sister, 
Adosinda,  in  marriage  to  Silon,  a  man  in  high  esteem, 
naming  her  also  as  his  successor.  Aurelius,  dying 
after  a  reign  of  six  years  and  a  half,  was  interred  in 
the  church  of  St.  Martin,  in  the  valley  of  lagueza. 
Aurelius  disgraced  himself  by  the  shameful  treaty  he 
entered  into  with  the  Moors,  by  which  he  bound  him- 
self to  deliver  to  them  every  year,  by  way  of  tribute, 
a  certain  number  of  young  maids.  Aurelius  was 
never  married. 

Silon,  though  on  his  accession  he  proved  himself 
brave  and  efficient  in  quelling  a  rebellion  in  Gralicia, 
had  arrived  at  an  age  that  led  him  to  prefer  the  ease 
of  private  life  to  the  cares  attendant  on  royalty,  and, 
therefore,  by  the  advice  of  his  queen,  who  appears  to 
have  exercised  great  influence  over  him,  he  named  as 
his  companion  on  the  throno  Don  Alfonso,  the  legiti- 


BERTA,    NIMILONA.  33 

mate  heir,  who  was  a  child  of  seven  years  of  age  at 
the  time  of  the  death  of  Don  Froila,  his  father.  Hav- 
ing left  Alfonso  absolute  power  to  make  peace  or  war, 
Silon  and  his  wife  retired  from  the  cares  of  govern- 
ment. Silon  died  in  783.  Adosinda  retired  to  a 
monastery  after  the  death  of  her  husband. 


BERTA,  NIMILONA. 

783. 

ALFONSO  II.,  SURNAMED  THE  CHASTE,  BERMUDO,  THE 
DEACON,  MAUREGATUS,  THE  BASTARD. 

AFTER  the  death  of  Silon,  Alfonso  was  left  sole  oc- 
cupant of  the  throne.  He  did  not,  however,  long  enjoy 
its  undisputed  possession,  for  in  the  beginning  of  his 
reign  he  was  deposed  by  his  uncle,  Mauregatus,  the 
Bastard.  The  usurper,  having  strengthened  himself 
by  an  alliance  with  the  Moors,  to  whom  he  agreed  to 
pay  a  tribute  of  fifty  young  maids  every  year,  was 
enabled  to  expel  the  rightful  sovereign,  who,  unable 
to  resist,  retired  into  Biscay,  where  he  had  many 
adherents.  Mauregatus  reigned  five  years  and  six 
months,  dying  in  788,  and  leaving  a  memory  stained 
with  almost  every  crime.  He  was  succeeded  by  Ber- 
mudo,  who  had  been  a  deacon.  Authors  do  not  agree 
as  to  the  parentage  of  Bermudo,  some  saying  he  was 
the  son  of  Bimaranus,  others  of  Froila.  Bermudo 
2* 


34  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

reigned  two  years  alone,  after  which  he  recalled  the 
exiled  prince,  Don  Alfonso,  and  shared  the  regal  dig- 
nity with  him.  Though  possessing  many  good  qua- 
lities, Bermudo's  love  of  ease  unfitting  him  for 
those  stirring  times,  contributed,  doubtless,  more  than 
his  sense  of  justice,  to  induce  him  to  recall  Don  Al- 
fonso. The  marriage  of  Bermudo  having  been  declared 
unlawful,  he  separated  from  his  wife,  Nimilona,  or 
Ursenda,  by  whom  he  had  had  two  sons,  Ramiro  and 
Garcia,  and  never  married  again.  This  prince  was 
very  successful  in  his  wars  with  the  Moors,  who  hav- 
ing been  refused  the  tribute  promised  and  conceded  by 
Mauregatus,  had  made  an  irruption  into  Asturias. 
Don  Bermudo  died  in  796. 

Don  Alfonso,  surnamed  the  Chaste,  from  the  purity 
of  his  life,  and  the  vow  of  continency  he  had  made, 
reigned  with  Bermudo  four  years  and  six  months,  and 
greatly  assisted  him  in  his  engagements  with  the 
Moors.  Of  his  queen,  Berta,  nothing  but  the  name 
has  been  transmitted  to  us,  but  of  his  sister  the  fol- 
lowing romantic  incident  is  related  in  the  ancient 
chronicles.  This  lady,  Dona  Ximena,  having  been 
seduced  by  Sancho,  Count  of  Saldana,  the  king,  who, 
actuated  by  a  spirit  of  bigotry  pardonable  in  that  age, 
had  bound  himself  by  the  strictest  of  monastic  vows, 
and  consequently  could  have  no  charity  for  the  frailties 
of  others,  ordered  the  conde  to  be  punished  by  the 
loss  of  his  eyes,  and  perpetual  imprisonment  in  tho 
castle  of  Luna.  The  unhappy  princess  was  shut  up 
in  a  monastery,  whore  she  bpent  the  remainder  of  her 


BERTA    NIMILONA. 

life.  The  sins  of  the  parents  were  not,  however, 
visited  on  their  offspring,  who  was  sent  to  Asturias. 
and  there  educated  as  though  he  had  been  the  king's 
son.  Of  this  youth  who,  in  process  of  time,  became 
so  celebrated  for  his  exploits,  under  the  name  of  Ber- 
nardo del  Carpio,  the  ancient  romances  tell  the  most 
incredible  feats.  Having  arrived  at  years  of  discre- 
tion, Bernardo  being  informed  of  his  parentage,  of 
which  he  had  been  left  until  then  in  ignorance,  de- 
manded his  father's  freedom  of  the  monarch  then 
reigning,  who  was  Alfonso  II.  His  request  being  met 
with  an  angry  denial,  Bernardo  raised  the  standard  of 
revolt,  doing  such  damage,  and  performing  actions  of 
such  daring,  that  the  nobles  of  the  land  assembled  and 
urged  the  king  to  comply  with  his  request.  Don  Al- 
fonso accordingly  sent  messengers  offering  to  exchange 
the  conde  for  Bernardo's  castle  of  Carpio.  This  con- 
dition having  been  accepted,  the  young  hero  hastened 
to  greet  the  sire  his  valor  had  freed.  Having  joined 
the  king,  they  rode  forward  to  meet  the  count,  who 
advanced  on  horseback,  clad  in  armor.  Bernardo  is 
said  to  have  exclaimed :  "  Oh  Grod !  is  the  Count  of 
Saldana  indeed  coming  ?"  "  Behold  him  !"  replied 
the  false  and  cruel  king,  "  and  now  go  and  greet  him 
whom  you  have  so  long  desired  to  see."  As  the 
youth  drew  near  the  deception  of  the  barbarous  mo- 
narch was  revealed  ;  there,  indeed,  mounted  on  his 
charger,  was  the  body  of  the  ill-fated  conde,  but  the 
spirit  had  fled,  Bernardo,  in  a  fit  of  rage  and  grief, 
seizing  the  reigns  of  the.  monarch's  steed,  and  setting 


36  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

him  face  to  face  with  the  dead,  broke  into  the  most 
passionate  reproaches.  From  that  time,  careless  of 
fame,  the  banner  of  Bernardo  was  never  again  seen 
on  the  field  of  battle,  nor  is  his  subsequent  fate  men- 
tioned in  story. 

The  celebrated  battle  of  Roncesvalles  is  said  to  have 
been  fought  in  the  reign  of  Alfonso  the  Chaste.  This 
monarch  died  in  824,  after  a  reign  of  forty-one  years 
and  five  months  from  the  period  of  his  first  accession, 
though  if  we  deduct  the  five  years  and  six  months  o* 
the  reign  of  the  usurper,  Mauregatus,  and  six  years  of 
the  reign  of  Bermudo,  we  find  that  in  reality  Alfonso 
reigned  but  29  years.  The  date  of  Berta's  death  is 
unknown. 


URRACA,  OR  PATERNA. 

824. 

DON    RAMIRO    I. 

DON  RAMIRO,  the  son  of  Don  Bermudo,  succeeded 
Don  Alfonso  on  the  throne.  It  is  probable  that  Ber- 
mudo was  well  aware  of  Don  Alfonso's  self-imposed 
vow,  and  thus,  by  recalling  this  prince,  was  enabled 
to  please  the  nation  without  injuring  his  own  cause, 
or  excluding  his  own  family  from  the  succession. 
Thus,  this  apparently  magnanimous  conduct  was,  in 


DONA    MUNIA.  37 

fact,  a  mere  act  of  policy — so  little  will  the  motives 
of  the  noblest  actions  bear  a  close  scrutiny. 

Don  Ramiro  married  Urraca,  or,  as  some  authors 
call  her,  Paterna.  This  lady  became  the  mother  of 
two  sons,  Ordono  and  Grarcia.  It  is  recorded  of  this 
queen,  that  she  was  exceedingly  pious,  economizing 
from  her  own  expenses,  in  order  to  enrich  churches, 
more  particularly  that  of  St.  James,  (Santiago,)  in 
gratitude  to  that  saint  for  the  assistance  he  rendered 
the  Christians  against  the  Moors  at  the  battle  of  Cla- 
vijo,  where  he  is  said  to  have  appeared,  armed  cap-a- 
pie,  mounted  on  a  white  charger,  and  bearing  a  white 
banner,  with  a  red  cross  embroidered  in  the  centre. 
This  is  the  origin  of  invoking  this  patron  saint  on  the 
eve  of  battle,  and  of  the  war  cry,  of  "  Santiago  y 
cierra  Espaiia."  St.  James  and  close  Spain !  Dona 
Urraca  died  in  861  and  was  buried  by  the  side  of  her 
husband,  who  had  died  in  831,  in  the  church  of  St. 
Mary  in  Oviedo. 


DONA  MUNIA. 
831. 

DON    ORDONO    I. 


OF  this  lady,  the  wife  of  Don  Ordono  I.,  who  suc- 
ceeded his  father,  very  little  is  known.  She  was  of 
high  birth,  and  became  the  mother  of  five  sons,  Al- 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 


fonso,  Bermudo,  Nuno,  Odoario  and  Fruela.  Don 
Ordono  having  reigned  ten  years,  during  which  time 
he  was  continually  warring  with  the  Moors,  died  in 
841. 


AMELINA,  OR  XIMENA. 
ALFONSO  in.  (THE  GREAT.) 

THIS  lady  was  of  the  blood  royal  of  France,  and 
though  her  name  was  Amelina,  it  was,  after  her  mar- 
riage with  Alfonso  III.,  changed  to  the  Spanish  one  of 
Ximena.  She  became  the  mother  of  four  sons,  Grar- 
cia,  Ordono,  Fruela  and  Gonzalo,  and  three  daughters, 
whose  names  history  has  not  preserved.  The  first 
three  of  these  princes  became  successively  kings  of 
Oviedo,  and  the  last  an  Archdeacon.  Ximena  has  left 
a  stain  on  her  memory  by  the  encouragement  she  gave 
her  son,  Don  Grarcia,  to  rebel  against  his  father.  Don 
Alfonso  having  gone  to  great  expense  in  rebuilding 
several  towns,  monasteries  and  castles  destroyed  by 
the  Infidels,  and  his  revenues  proving  insufficient  for 
the  outlays,  he  was  compelled  to  raise  the  necessary 
sums  by  the  imposition  of  new  taxes,  which  caused 
great  dissatisfaction  among  the  people.  The  queen, 
either  blinded  by  maternal  love,  and  the  wish  to  see 
her  son  seated  on  the  throne,  or  actuated  by  some  mo- 
tive of  which  history  has  kept  no  record,  instigated 


AMELINA    OR    XIMENA.  39 

Don  Grarcia  to  seize  this  favorable  opportunity  of  pos- 
sessing himself  of  the  crown.  The  attempt  proved 
abortive,  for  the  king,  though  wasted  by  age  and  care, 
still  retained  unimpaired  the  faculties  of  his  mind, 
and  the  promptness  of  •  his  measures  defeated  the 
schemes  of  the  rebels,  the  chief  of  whom,  Grarcia,  was 
confined  by  his  father's  orders,  in  the  castle  of  Gua- 
zon,  having  been  taken  prisoner  in  Zamora.  The  dis- 
turbances did  not,  however,  end  here,  for  Don  Nuno 
Hernandez,  Earl  of  Castile,  a  powerful  noble,  whose 
daughter  Don  Grarcia  had  married,  took  up  arms  in 
his  cause.  The  war  lasting  two  years,  the  king  wea- 
ried out  and  disgusted,  in  the  year  886  resigned  the 
crown  to  Don  Grarcia,  giving  to  Ordono  the  Lordship 
of  Gralicia.  This  king,  from  the  numerous  victories 
he  obtained  over  the  Moors,  was  surnamed  The  Great, 
is  said  to  have  been  valiant,  affable,  meek  and  merci- 
ful, but  he  seems  to  have  strangely  forgotten  the  lat- 
ter quality,  if  he  ever  possessed  it,  when  he  inflicted 
so  cruel  a  punishment  on  his  rebellious  brothers, 
Fruela,  Nuno,  Bermudo  and  Odoario.  These  princes, 
having  conspired  against  Alfonso,  were  condemned  to 
lose  their  eyes  and  live  in  perpetual  imprisonment. 
Alfonso  died  in  887,  having  reigned  46  years.  Xime- 
na  survived  her  husband  some  years,  but  the  exact, 
date  of  her  death  is  unknown. 


'JO  THE    QUEENS    OP    SPAIN. 

NUNA, 

MUNINA  ELVIRA, 
ANGOTA, 
SANTIVA. 

886. 

REIGNS  OF  DON  GARCIA  AND  DON  ORDONO  II. 

DON  G-ARCIA,  the  eldest  son  of  Alfonso  the  Grreat, 
enjoyed  but  three  years  the  crown  he  had  so  long 
striven  to  wrest  from  his  father.  He  died  at  Zamora 
in  889,  leaving  no  children  by  his  wife,  of  whom  all 
we  know  is  that  her  name  was  Nuna,  and  that  she 
was  the  daughter  of  Nuno  Hernandez,  Count  of  Castile. 
Grarcia  was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  Ordono  II., 
whose  first  wife,  Munina  Elvira,  a  Gralician  lady  of 
great  worth,  became  the  mother  of  four  sons,  Sancho, 
Alfonso,  Ramiro  and  Grarcia,  and  one  daughter,  Dona 
Ximena.  Dona  Munina  Elvira  died  in  894,  in  the 
city  of  Zamora. 

Dona  Angota,  a  lady  of  high  birth  in  Gfalicia,  was 
the  second  wife  of  Ordono,  from  whom  she  was 
according  to  some  authors,  unjustly  divorced,  but  the 
causes  of  the  separation  are  left  unexplained,  nor  is 
any  farther  mention  made  of  her. 

Dona  Sancha,  or  Santiva,  the  third  and  last  wife  01 
Don  Ordono,  was  the  daughter  of  Gfarci  Iniguez,  king 
of  Narvarre.  The  king  survived  his  marriage  but  one 
year,  dying  in  897,  and  was  buried  in  the  church  of 
St.  Mary,  in  the  city  of  Leon,  being  the  first  king  in- 


URRACA    XIMENEZ.  41 

terred  in  that  city.  Ordono  was  also  the  first  of  the 
kings  of  Oviedo  at  whose  accession  the  ceremony  of 
the  coronation  was  performed  ;  and  this  having  taken 
place  in  the  city  of  Leon,  he  is  supposed,  from  that 
circumstance  to  have  been  the  first  to  take  the  title 
of  king  of  Leon,  that  of  king  of  Oviedo  falling  into 
disuse  from  that  period,  and  being  finally  dropped  by 
his  successors. 


URRACA   XIMENEZ. 
ALFONSO  iv.,  (THE  MONK.) 

AFTER  the  death  of  Ordono,  the  throne  was  usurped 
by  his  brother  Fruela,  surnamed  The  Cruel.  This 
prince  having  lost  his  wife,  Dona  Nuna,  before  his  ac- 
cession, she  can  hardly  be  numbered  among  the  queens 
of  Spain.  Though  Fruela  left  three  legitimate  sons, 
Alfonso,  Ordono  and  Ramiro,  and  one  illegitimate, 
Fruela,  he  was  succeeded  by  the  rightful  heir,  his 
nephew  Alfonso,  son  of  the  preceding  monarch.  Fru- 
ela, having  reigned  little  over  a  year,  died  of  leprosy 
in  898.  Alfonso,  the  next  sovereign  of  Leon,  married 
Dona  Urraca  Ximenez,  eldest  daughter  of  Don  Sancho 
Abarca,  king  of  Navarre,  and  of  his  queen,  Dona 
Teuda.  Dona  Urraca  gave  birth  to  one  son,  Don  Or- 
dono. Alfonso,  who  seems  to  have  been  totally  unfit 
to  govern,  rendered  himself  odious  to  the  nation,  and, 


42  THE    QUEENS    OF  SPAIN. 

after  a  reign  of  five  years  and  seven  months,  abdicated 
the  throne  in  favor  of  his  brother,  Ramiro,  and  took 
the  habit  of  a  monk  in  the  monastery  of  Sahagun, 
careless  of  the  future  welfare  of  his  wife  and  only  son. 
The  inconstancy  of  his  disposition  soon  leading  him  to 
repent  of  his  resolution,  he  abandoned  his  retreat,  and 
again  claimed  the  crown.  Having  been  worsted  by 
Don  Ramiro,  he  was  imprisoned  with  his  wife,  and 
the  sons  of  his  predecessor,  Fruela,  who  had  taken  part 
in  the  insurrection,  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Julien, 
near  Leon.  Here  they  were  kept  during  the  remain- 
der of  their  lives,  the  deposed  king  and  the  princes 
having  been  also  punished  with  the  loss  of  their  eyes. 


TERESA, 

RAMIRO    II. 

THIS  lady,  daughter  of  Sancho  Abarca,  king  of  Na- 
varre, and  sister  to  the  preceding  queen,  was  married 
to  Don  Ramiro  II.,  by  whom  she  had  three  sons,  Ber- 
mudo,  Ordono  and  Sancho,  the  last  two  of  whom  suc- 
cessively ascended  the  throne.  She  had  also  one 
daughter,  Dona  Elvira,  who,  at  her  father's  instiga- 
tion, took  the  veil  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Saviour,  in 
the  city  of  Leon.  Of  a  proud,  vindictive  temper, 
Dona  Teresa  never  forgave  the  celebrated  Fernan  Gon- 
zalez, conde  of  Castile,  the  death  of  her  father,  de- 


TERESA.  48 

feated  and  slain  by  him  in  battle  in  the  year  930. 
During  the  subsequent  reign  of  her  son,  Don  Sancho, 
she  used  every  argument  to  induce  him  to  second  her 
desire  of  vengeance.  Sancho,  unwilling  to  break  tho 
peace  he  had  recently  concluded  with  the  earl,  agreed, 
however,  that  his  mother  should  apply  to  her  brother, 
the  reigning  sovereign  of  Navarre,  and  in  him  she 
found  a  ready  auxiliary.  Garci  Sanchez  was  at  the 
time  smarting  under  a  defeat  he  had  lately  suffered 
from  the  earl  in  a  pitched  battle,  and  was  willing  to 
adopt  any  plan  her  policy  suggested.  A  peace  having 
been  concluded,  by  Teresa's  advice,  the  Navarrese 
offered  the  hand  of  his  youngest  sister,  Sancha,  to  the 
earl,  who  was  then  a  widower.  Unsuspicious  of 
treachery  the  earl  accepted  the  proposal,  and  came  to 
Navarre  to  receive  his  bride  and  celebrate  his  nuptials; 
but,  in  lieu  of  the  friendly  reception  he  had  anticipated, 
he  was  seized  and  thrown  into  prison.  His  captivity 
was  of  short  duration,  for  the  fair  cause  of  his  misfor- 
tunes, not  harboring  the  vindictive  feelings  of  her  kin- 
dred, and  favorably  impressed  with  the  noble  mien  of 
their  gallant  foe,  spared  no  effort  to  set  him  free. 
Having  effected  her  object,  Sancha  escaped  with  the 
earl  to  the  frontiers,  where  they  met  near  Rioja  an 
army  of  his  loyal  subjects,  who  had  sworn  never  to 
return  without  their  loved  chieftain.  At  Burgos, 
Fernan  Gonzalez  celebrated  his  marriage  with  his 
deliverer.*  The  war  now  broke  out  with  renewed 

*  The  relation  of  these  wars  belongs,  more  properly,  to  the 
history  of  the  reign  of  Sancho,  but  we  give  them  now,  rather  than 


44  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

acrimony,  and  a  battle  was  fought  in  which  the  king 
of  Navarre  was  made  prisoner.  His  kind-hearted 
sister  was  untiring  in  her  solicitations  to  her  hus- 
band for  her  brother's  release,  which  she  finally  ob- 
tained, after  he  had  been  confined  thirteen  months  in 
Burgos.  The  fierce  and  restless  spirit  of  the  dowager 
queen  of  Leon,  undismayed  by  the  ill-success  her 
schemes  had  hitherto  met  with,  now  again  labored  to 
compass  the  fall  of  Gronzalo,  and  so  wrought  on  her 
son  that  he  summoned  the  conde,  as  one  of  his  tribu- 
tary lords,  to  attend  Cortes  in  936.  Though  the  past 
should  have  forewarned  the  noble  Castilian  of  the 
danger  of  meeting  his  unforgiving  and  perfidious  foes, 
he  scorned  to  evince  the  slightest  suspicion,  and  un- 
hesitatingly obeyed  the  summons.  Don  Sancho  came 
not  forth,  according  to  custom,  to  meet  his  high  and 
powerful  vassal,  but  awaited  him  within  his  palace, 
and  as  the  noble  stooped  to  perform  the  prescribed  act 
of  homage  of  kissing  the  king's  hand,  he  was  seized 
and  imprisoned.  Great  was  the  consternation  of  the 
Castilians  when  the  news  of  this  disastrous  event 
reached  them,  but  Dona  Sancha,  a  lady  of  ready  wit 
and  dauntless  spirit,  far  from  giving  vent  to  useless 
lamentations,  immediately  set  about  devising  the 
means  of  freeing  her  husband,  by  feigning  a  pilgrimage 
in  his  behalf  to  the  shrine  of  St.  James  the  Apostle. 
As  her  way  lay  through  the  city  of  Leon,  the  king 
sallied  forth  to  receive  her  with  the  courtesy  due  to 

break  the  thread  of  incidents  occurring  during  the  life  of  Teresa, 
who  was  their  chief  instigator. 


TERESA.  45 

her  rank,  and  the  relationship  in  which,  as  his  aunt, 
she  stood  to  him.  He  even  granted  her  earnest  re- 
quest of  an  interview  with  her  husband.  Having 
spent  the  night  with  the  count,  Dona  Sancha  pre- 
vailed on  him  to  attempt  an  escape  in  her  garments 
on  the  following  morning.  The  plan  succeeded,  and 
Fernan  Gfonzalez  reached  in  safety  the  borders  of  Cas- 
tile. The  king,  though  at  first  greatly  incensed  at 
having  been  outwitted,  soon  learned  to  appreciate  the 
motives  that  had  actuated  his  aunt's  conduct,  and 
sent  her  back  to  her  husband,  honorably  attended. 
Pleased  with  his  lady's  return,  the  conde  foreboro 
manifesting  any  open  resentment  of  the  wrongs  done 
himself,  but  demanded  the  payment  of  a  debt  the  king 
had  contracted  with  him.  This  debt,  according  to 
some  authors,  was  for  a  hawk  and  a  horse  sold  by  the 
earl,  with  the  condition  that,  if  not  paid  for  within  a 
certain  time,  the  amount  should  be  doubled  each  suc- 
ceeding day.  The  king  having  delayed  the  payment, 
the  amount  due  now  exceeded  his  means,  and  the 
conde  making  continued  inroads  on  the  lands  of  Leon, 
the  contending  parties  agreed,  in  937,  that,  as  an  equi- 
valent, Castile  should  be  released  from  all  homage  or 
subjection  to  the  crown  of  Leon. 

During  the  reign  of  King  Ramiro,  the  Conde  of 
Castile,  Fernan  Gonzalez,  weakened  by  the  war  he 
had  lately  sustained  against  the  Navarrese,  and  threat- 
ened by  a  large  army  of  Moors  that  had  appeared  on 
his  frontier,  implored  the  assistance  of  the  king  of  Leon, 
who,  accordingly,  hastened  to  his  relief  with  a  large 


46  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

force,  and  having  joined  the  conde,  they  gave  battle 
near  Osma  to  the  Infidels,  who  were  entirely  defeated. 
It  is  probable  that  Don  Ramiro  would  not  so  readily 
have  consented  to  assist  the  conde,  had  the  latter  not 
agreed  to  make  Castile,  (which  had  been  separated 
from  Leon  in  the  reign  of  Don  Fruela,)  a  feudatory  to 
Leon.  In  the  subsequent  reign  of  Don  Sancha  it 
was,  as  we  have  already  related,  finally  released 
from  this  dependence.  Don  Ramiro  died  in  924. 


DONA  URRACA  AND  DONA  ELVIRA. 

924. 

DON  ORDONO  III.  AND  DON  SANCHO  I. 

URRACA,  the  daughter  of  the  famous  conde  of 
Castile,  Fernan  Gonzalez,  and  of  his  first  wife,  Dona 
Urraca,  was,  during  some  temporary  cessation  of  hos- 
tilities, between  the  ever  contending  Castilians  and 
Leonese,  married  to  the  prince  Ordono,  who  after- 
wards succeeded  his  father  Don  Ramiro,  on  the  throne 
of  Leon,  in  924.  On  the  accession  of  this  prince,  his 
uncle  (rarci- Sanchez,  king  of  Navarre,  and  his  father- 
in-law,  leagued  to  dethrone  him.  The  attempt  prov- 
ing abortive,  Ordono,  enraged  at  the  unprovoked  con- 
duct of  the  count,  was  divorced  from  his  daughter,  and 
married  the  lady  Elvira,  daughter  of  Don  Gonzalo, 
Conde  of  Asturias,  and  of  his  wife  Dona  Teresa.  By 


DONA    URRACA    AND    DONA    ELVIRA.  47 

this  second  wife,  Don  Ordono  had  one  son,  Bermudo, 
who  subsequently  ascended  the  throne.  Don  Ordono, 
a  brave  and  prudent  sovereign,  was  greatly  beloved  by 
his  people,  but  the  shortness  of  his  reign  prevented 
his  doing  all  the  good  they  had  reason  to  expect  from 
him.  He  died  at  Zamora  in  929,  after  a  reign  of  five 
years  and  some  months.  Don  Ordono  was  succeeded 
by  his  brother  Don  Sancho,  who,  in  the  second  year  of 
his  reign,  was  compelled  to  seek  shelter  among  the 
Moors,  the  army  having  declared  in  favor  of  Ordono, 
the  son  of  Alfonso  the  monk,  who  had  been  left 
an  infant,  at  the  period  of  his  father's  abdication. 
This  prince,  whose  character  may  be  conjectured  by 
his  surname  of  The  Wicked,  might  have  sustained 
himself  on  the  throne  he  had  usurped,  had  his  talents 
for  governing  been  equal  to  his  ambition,  for  he  had 
strengthened  his  party  by  marrying  Urraca,  the  di- 
vorced wife  of  the  late  sovereign,  and  thus  secured  f.l*« 
powerful  alliance  of  Castile.  He  soon  rendered  him- 
self so  odious  to  the  nation,  that  on  the  approach  of 
Sancho,  at  the  head  of  a  large  body  of  troops,  he  was 
obliged  to  fly  into  \sturias,  and  thence  into  Castile ; 
but  his  father-in-law,  indignant  at  his  cowardice,  took 
his  wife  from  him,  and  otherwise  gave  him  so  cold  a 
reception,  that  he  preferred  throwing  himself  on  the 
protection  of  the  Moors,  among  whom  he  died,  poor 
and  despised.  Of  Dona  Urraca,  who  seems  to  have 
been  particularly  unfortunate  in  her  marriages,  no  more 
is  said,  but  that  she  died  in  965.  Neither  is  aught  else 
said  of  Elvira. 


48  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

DONA  TERESA. 

929. 

SANCHO    THE    FAT. 

TERESA,  the  daughter  of  Aznar  Fernandez,  Conde 
of  Monzon,  was  the  wife  of  Sancho  I.,  by  whom  she 
had  one  son,  Ramiro.  She  is  said  to  have  been  a  lady 
of  extraordinary  beauty  and  superior  intellect.  Dur- 
ing the  minority  of  her  son,  who  was  but  five  years  of 
age  when  his  father  died,  she  governed  the  kingdom 
with  great  prudence.  The  date  of  her  death  is  not 
recorded.  Don  Sancho,  having  been  relieved  of  his 
excessive  corpulence  by  the  Moorish  physicians  of  Ab- 
derrhaman,  king  of  Cordova,  was  also  assisted  by  that 
monarch  with  troops  to  recover  his  kingdom  from  the 
usurper,  Ordono  the  Wicked.  Of  Sancho's  wars  with 
the  earl  of  Castile,  some  account  has  been  given  in 
the  life  of  the  Queen  Mother,  Teresa.  Don  Sancho 
died,  poisoned  by  an  apple,  given  to  him  by  one  of  his 
vassals,  in  the  year  941. 


DONA     URRACA.  49 

DONA  URRACA. 

941. 

RAMIRO    III.* 

DONA   URRACA  was  the  wife  of  Don  Ramiro  III. 
This  lady  possessed  great  influence  over  her  husband, 
but,  unfortunately,  solely   employed  it  to  counteract 
the  wise  plans  of  his  mother,  and  aunt  Dona  Elvira, 
or,  as  some  called  her,  Dona  (reloyra,  whose  prudent 
advice  she  frequently  caused  him  to  disregard.     Dur- 
ing the  reign  of  this  king,  the  inhabitants  of  Neustria, 
now  Normandy,  who  lived  principally  by  rapine,  and 
were  constantly  infecting  the  coast  of  Spain,  having 
gathered  a  large  fleet,  made  an  irruption  on  the  coast 
of  Gralicia,  burning  villages,  towns  and  castles,  and 
carrying  off     enormous     booty.     This  plague  lasted 
two  years,  the  youth  of  the  king  preventing  any  efficient 
measures  being  taken  for  the  protection  of  the  coun- 
try.    At  the  end  of  this  time,  Don  G-arci- Sanchez, 
Count  of  Castile,  son  of  Fernan  G-onzalez,  assembled 
a  force,  and  surprising  the  Normans  near  the  sea,  as 
they  were  returning  laden  with  plunder,  gave  them  a 
signal    defeat,  taking  their   captain,  recovering   the 
prisoners  and  booty,  and  destroying  their  ships.     Ra- 
miro, having,  by  his  ill  conduct,  created  great  discon- 
tent, the  inhabitants  of  G-alicia  rebelled,  and  elected 
for  their  king  Don   Bermudo,  son  of  Don  Ordono  III., 

*  The  wives  of   Ramiro  II.  and  Ramiro  III.  were  both  called 
Urraca,  their  eldest  sons  were  both  Ordonos. 

3 


50  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

and  cousin  of  Don  Ramiro.  The  war  lasted  two  years, 
Bermudo  finally  remaining  master  of  Galicia.  Don 
Ramiro  died  in  Leon  in  965,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  cousin,  Don  Bermudo,  the  latter  having  reigned 
ten  years  in  Galicia,  before  his  accession  to  the  throne 
of  Leon. 


VELASQUITA  AND  ELVIRA. 
965. 

BERMUDO    II.,    THE    GOUTY. 

THE  first  of  these  ladies  was  divorced  from  her  hus- 
band, Don  Bermudo  II.,  though  without  any  lawful 
reason,  after  having  given  birth  to  a  daughter,  Dona 
Cristina. 

Dona  Elvira,  the  second  wife  of  Bermudo,  brought 
him  a  son,  who  succeeded  him  as  Alfonso  V.,  and  a 
daughter,  Teresa.  Bermudo  reigned  17  years  and 
died  in  982.  Although  a  martyr  to  the  gout,  Bermu- 
do imitated  his  predecessors  in  warring  with  the  Infi- 
dels, over  whom,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Conde  of 
Castile,  he  obtained  signal  advantages,  though  at  one 
time  they  advanced  as  far  as  the  city  of  Leon,  and 
destroyed  its  walls  to  the  foundations. 


DONA  ELVIRA.  51 

DONA  ELVIRA. 
982. 

DON   ALFONSO    V. 

THOUGH  Alfonso,  at  his  father's  death,  was  but  five 
years  of  age,  the  kingdom  suffered  from  none  of  the 
evils  that  generally  attend  the  minority  of  princes, 
being  wisely  governed  by  Don  Melindo  Gonzalez,  Conde 
of  Gralicia,  and  his  wife,  Dona  Mayor,  who  had  been 
appointed  by  the  will  of  the  late  king  guardians  of  the 
prince,  and  entrusted  with  the  regency.  The  young 
king,  on  attaining  his  majority,  pleased  with  the  in- 
tegrity and  prudence  with  which  his  tutors  had  dis- 
charged their  important  trust,  married  their  daughter, 
Elvira,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  Bermudo,  who  suc- 
ceeded him,  and  a  daughter,  Sancha,  who  in  turn  suc- 
ceeded her  brother  on  the  throne.  Alfonso  was  killed 
at  the  siege  of  Viseo,  in  Lusitania,  in  the  year  1028. 
Elvira  survived  her  husbancl  many  years,  dying  in 
1052. 


DONA  TERESA. 

DON    BERMUDO    III. 

TERESA  was  the  daughter  of  Don  Sancha, 
Conde  of  Castile,  who  died  in  the  same  year  as  Alfon- 
so V.,  King  of  Leon.  Besides  Teresa,  who  married 


52  THE    QT  KENS    OF    SPAIN. 

Bermudo,  the  young  king  of  Leon,  the  Conde  of  Cas- 
tile left  another  daughter,  Dona  Nufia,  married  some 
time  previous  to  her  father's  death  to  Don  Sancho, 
king  of  Navarra,  and  a  son,  Don  Garcia,  who  suc- 
ceeded him  in  the  condado.  Garcia,  a  promising 
youth  of  thirteen,  was  betrothed  in  the  year  of  his  ac- 
cession to  the  title,  to  Sancha,  sister  of  the  young  king 
of  Leon,  and  this  double  alliance,  which  was  to  have 
consolidated  the  league  between  the  Leonese  and 
Castilians,  and  united  them  against  their  common  foe, 
the  Moor,  proved  the  cause  of  the  young  prince's 
untimely  death.  The  city  of  Leon  was  the  place  ap- 
pointed for  the  celebration  of  the  nuptials,  and  thither 
Don  Grarcia  repaired,  attended  by  his  brother-in-law, 
the  king  of  Navarra,  who,  to  do  him  the  greater 
honor,  was  accompanied  by  his  two  young  sons.  The 
retinue  of  men  of  note  from  Cestile  and  Navarre  wan 
so  numerous  as  to  resemble  an  army,  and  prevented 
their  advancing  very  rapidly.  This  tardiness  in  their 
progress  being  little  suited  to  the  fiery  spirit  of  the 
youthful  bridegroom,  impatient  to  see  his  intended 
bride,  he  pushed  on,  with  but  few  attendants,  leav- 
ing the  king  at  Sahagun,  to  follow  at  his  leisure. 
A  plan  was  laid  for  his  destruction  by  the  sons  of  Don 
"Vela,  a  Castilian  noble,  who  for  his  turbulent  conduct 
had  been  exiled  during  the  reign  of  G-arcia's  father. 
Having  met  the  young  prince  at  the  gates  of  Leon, 
they  knelt  at  his  feet  imploring  his  forgiveness,  were 
by  the  kind  youth  immediately  reinstated  in  his 
favor.  He  then  proceeded  to  the  church  of  St.  Sa- 


DONA    THERESA.  53 

viour  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  mass,  but,  at  the  very 
door,  was  struck  down  by  the  traitors  ;  Don  Roderick, 
the  eldest,  who  was  the  conde's  god-father,  being  the 
first  to  bury  his  poniard  in  his  breast,  and  the  other 
brothers  dispatching  him  with  their  swords.*  The  un- 
timely end  of  Don  Garcia  occasioned  great  changes. 
Don  Sancho,  king  of  Navarre,  whose  tents  were 
pitched  at  the  gates  of  Leon,  was  heir,  in  right  of  his 
wife,  Dofia  Nuna,  to  the  earldom  of  Castile,  which  he 
forthwith  erected  into  a  kingdom.  The  power  of  this 
sovereign  was  now  becoming  formidable,  and  to  ap- 
pease the  storm,  with  which  his  inordinate  ambition 
threatened  Leon,  it  was  agreed  by  Don  Bermudo,  with 
the  concurrence  of  his  nobles,  that  the  widowed  maid, 
his  sister,  should  marry  the  second  son  of  Don  Sancho, 
and  be  declared  heiress  to  the  crown  of  Leon.  This 
arrangement  satisfied  the  king  of  Navarre,  who,  at  the 
head  of  his  forces,  was  always  ravaging  his  brother- 
in-law's  domains,  and  a  peace  was  concluded.  Dona 
Sancha  was  married  to  Ferdinand,  in  1030.  It  is  prob- 
able her  boy  lover  had  not  made  a  very  lasting  im- 
pression on  her  heart,  though  a  Spanish  historian 
affirms  that  when  told  of  his  death  she  fainted,  and, 
on  her  recovery,  ran  to  the  spot  where  the  body  lay, 
and,  embracing  it,  wasted  herself  in  sighs  and  tears. 
Peace  lasted  for  some  time,  until  Don  Sancho  dying, 

*  The  murderers  fled  to  Monzon.  but  were  pursued,  taken,  and 
burned  alive,  by  the  king  of  Navarre.  Garcia  was  the  last  of  the 
counts  of  Castile,  which  remained  an  independent  kingdom  for  two 
centuries,  but  at  the  end  of  that  time  was  united  to  Leon. 


54  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

and  his  sons  being  disunited,  Bermudo  sought  to  indem- 
nify himself  for  the  disadvantageous  terms  extorted 
from  him,  and  was  slain  in  a  battle  fought  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  Carrion  in  1037.  Thus  all  the  do- 
mains of  the  Christian  sovereigns  of  Spain  fell  into  the 
hands  of  one  family,  Ferdinand,  who  was  already 
king  of  Castile,  being  now  also  king  of  Leon,  his 
wife's  inheritance.  Bermudo  left  no  children,  Al- 
fonso, his  only  son  by  his  queen  dying  in  childhood. 
Of  Teresa  no  farther  mention  is  made  after  her  hus- 
band's death. 


QUEENS  OF   ARAGON; 

FROM 

1034  TO  1468. 


QUEENS  OF    ARAGON, 


DOffA  NUffA,  OR  ELVIRA  MAYOR,* 

(aUEEN    OF    NAVARRE,    COUNTESS    OF    ARAGON,    AND 
COUNTESS,    BY    INHERITANCE,    OF    CASTILE.) 

1000. 

REIGN  OF  DON  SANCHo  iv.,  (Surnamed  el  Mayor — the 
Great.) 

(CONDADO  OF  CASTILE,  FIKST  ERECTED  INTO   A  KINGDOM, 
IN  1034,  UNDER  FERDINAND  I.) 

(CONDADO  OF  ARAGON,  FIRST    ERECTED  INTO  AN  INDE- 
PENDENT   KINGDOM,    IN    1034,    UNDER    RAMIRO    I.) 

DoSfA  NuSfA,  also  called  Elvira  Mayor,  was  the 
daughter  of  Don  Sancho,  count  of  Castile.  Having 
married  Sancho  IV.,  king  of  Navarre,  she  was  already 

*  Dona  Nuna  does  not  rank  among  the  queens  of  Aragon,  of 
which  she  was  only  the  countess,  that  province  having  been  settled 
on  her  as  a  jointure  by  her  husband;  but,  as  the  annals  of  her 
reign  contain  the  incident  that  explains  the  separation  of  that  pro 
vince  from  Navarre,  and  its  erection  into  an  independent  kingdom, 
they  are  given  here. 
3* 


58  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

the  mother  of  three  sons,  Garcia,  Ferdinand,  and 
Gonzalo,  when  the  tragical  death  of  her  only  brother, 
Garcia,  the  last  count  of  Castile,  murdered  by  traitors 
in  the  fourteenth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  first  of  his 
reign,  left  her  the  heiress  of  Castile.  Though  this 
accession  of  power  made  her  husband  the  greatest  of 
Spain's  monarchs,  it  proved  no  shield  to  protect  his 
consort  against  domestic  sorrows  and  the  poisoned 
shafts  of  calumny,  and  this  hapless  queen  was  des- 
tined to  feel  as  a  wife  and  a  mother  the  severest  pangs 
that  can  torture  the  human  heart.  Don  Sancho  having 
taken  possession  of  Castile  as  his  wife's  inheritance, 
and,  by  his  son  Ferdinand's  marriage  with  the  heiress 
of  Leon,  secured  to  his  own  family  the  whole  of  the 
Spanish  dominions,  with  the  exception  of  the  Moorish 
possessions,  now  turned  his  attention  to  the  prosecu- 
tion of  the  war  with  the  Infidels,  who,  divided  among 
themselves,  presented  to  the  ambitious  sovereign  ol 
the  Christians  an  excellent  opportunity  of  extending 
his  territories  at  their  expense.  Ere  ho  departed  on 
this  expedition,  Don  Sancho  earnestly  commended  to 
the  queen's  care  a  horse  by  which  he  set  great  store. 
In  those  days  the  Spaniards  considered  their  horses, 
hawks  and  arms  their  most  valuable  property.  Dur- 
ing the  king's  absence,  Garcia,  the  eldest  son,  re- 
quested the  queen  to  lend  him  his  father's  favorite 
steed,  and  she  was  on  the  point  of  acceding  to  his 
desire,  when  Pedro  Sese,  master  of  the  horse  to  the 
king,  interfered,  representing  to  her  how  much  in- 
censed the  sovereign  would  be  by  her  so  doing.  Her 


DOSfA    NUftA,    OR    ELVIRA    MAYOR.  59 

denial  so  much  infuriated  the  rash  youth,  that  he 
immediately  wrote  to  his  father,  accusing  Dona  Nuna 
of  criminal  intercourse  with  the  master  of  the  horse. 
Surprised  at  the  extraordinary  tidings,  the  king  has- 
tened home  ;  but,  though  the  previous  conduct  of  the 
queen  gave  the  lie  to  this  infamous  charge,  on  the 
other  hand  it  seemed  utterly  improbable  that  a  son 
would  coin  this  fearful  tale  without  some  foundation. 
Ferdinand,  indeed,  did  not  corroborate  his  brother's 
statement,  but  neither  did  he  contradict  it,  and,  when 
questioned,  replied  in  so  dubious  a  manner  as  to  in- 
crease the  king's  perplexity.  The  unhappy  queen 
was  imprisoned  in  the  castle  of  Najera,  and  the 
assembled  nobles  decreed  that,  according  to  the  cus- 
toms of  the  age,  her  guilt  or  innocence  should  be 
decided  by  a  duel,  and  that,  should  her  champion  be 
defeated,  or  should  she  find  no  knight  willing  to  do 
battle  in  her  behalf,  she  should  perish  at  the  stake. 
The  chances  in  Dona  Nufia's  favor  were  small  indeed, 
the  high  rank  of  her  accuser  deterring  many,  who, 
convinced  of  her  innocence,  would  otherwise  have 
been  willing  to  peril  their  lives  to  vindicate  her  honor ; 
and  the  fatal  day  arrived,  bringing  no  hope  of  rescue 
to  the  doomed  victim.  In  this  extremity,  when  a 
cruel  and  lingering  death  seemed  inevitable,  an  unex- 
pected champion  entered  the  lists  and  accepted  the 
slanderer's  defiance.  The  bold  knight  who,  compas- 
sionating tho  wretched  mother,  convinced  of  the  false- 
ness of  the  accusation,  or  actuated  by  some  feeling  of 
private  animosity  against  the  accuser,  espoused  the 


60  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

cause  of  Nuna,  was  Don  Ramiro,  a  natural  son  of  the 
king  by  a  Navarrese  lady  of  rank.  Whatever  might 
have  been  the  issue  of  the  combat,  it  could  not  but 
prove  a  sad  one  to  the  monarch,  but  it  was  happily 
prevented  by  the  interference  of  a  monk,  a  man  of 
great  eloquence,  and  held  in  high  repute  for  his  sanc- 
tity. Horror-struck  at  the  sight  of  two  brothers 
arrayed  in  arms  against  each  other,  the  holy  man 
descended  into  the  lists,  and  so  wrought  on  the  minds 
of  both  (3-arcia  and  Ferdinand,  that,  casting  themselves 
at  the  king's  feet,  they  proclaimed  the  queen's  inno- 
cence, and  confessed  their  own  guilt.  After  severely 
reproaching  them,  Don  Sancho  left  the  punishment 
of  the  culprits  to  the  queen,  giving  her  full  authority 
to  do  by  them  according  to  her  pleasure.  Overcome 
by  the  entreaties  of  the  nobles,  who  interceded  for 
their  pardon,  Nuna  forgave  her  unnatural  sons,  but 
exacted  from  the  king  that  he  should  name  her  gallant 
champion  heir  to  the  condado  of  Aragon,  his  noble 
conduct  amply  atoning  for  the  stain  on  his  birth. 
Castile  was  bestowed  on  the  second  son  of  Ferdinand, 
Grarcia  being  thus  deprived  of  the  inheritance  to  which 
he  was  entitled  from  his  mother,  and  reduced  to  the 
little  kingdom  of  Navarre.  This  incident  savors 
so  strongly  of  romance,  that  we  should  be  inclined  to 
read  it  as  one  of  the  fictions  handed  down  to  us  in  the 
ancient  cancioneros,  but  that  it  is  related  by  sundry 
grave  and  ancient  authors,  who  thus  account  for  the 
division  of  the  kingdoms ;  but  others  assert,  that  the 
king  so  ordered  it  in  his  will,  and  that  Ramiro  was  a 


DISBERGA,    Oil    ER.MESINDA.  61 

legitimate  son  by  a  former  wife.  Don  Garcia,  in 
expiation  of  his  sin,  undertook  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome. 
The  death  of  Sancho  occurred  in  1034,  on  the  18th 
of  October.  The  date  of  the  queen's  death  is  not 
recorded,  though  it  is  made  manifest  that  she  sur- 
vived her  husband  several  years.  To  her  youngest 
son,  Gronzalo,  was  left  the  petty  kingdom  of  Sobrarve 
and  Rivagorza. 


DONA  GISBEROA,  OR  ERMESINDA. 
1036. 

REIGN    OF    DON    RAMIRO. 

DON  RAMIRO  was  the  first  that  bore  the  title  of  "  king 
of  Ajagon,"  that  country  having  been  governed  for  250 
years  previous  to  his  accession  by  condes.  In  1034, 
Sancho,  king  of  Navarre,  dying,  his  son  Ramiro  entered 
into  possession  of  the  kingdom,  of  which,  during  his 
father's  life;  he  had  been  proclaimed  heir.  The 
majority  of  the  ancient  Aragonian  chronicles,  to 
remove  the  stain  of  bastardy  from  the  birth  of  this 
their  first  monarch,  assert  that  Sancho  IV.  was  twice 
married,  and  that  Ramiro  was  the  son  of  his  first  queen. 
Had  this  been  the  case,  it  would  have  seemed  more 
natural  that  Ramiro  should  have  inherited  the  crown 
of  Navarre.  Be  this  as  it  may,  Ramiro  proved  him- 


62  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

self  worthy  of  the  throne,  by  his  numerous  good  quali- 
ties. In  1036,  he  married  Ermesinda,  the  daughter 
of  Barnard  Roger,  conde  of  Bigorra,  and  of  his  wife, 
Garsenda.  This  princess  gave  birth  to  three  sons, 
Sancho,  Ramirez,  and  Garcia,  who  became  bishop  of 
laca ;  and  to  two  daughters,  Sancha,  who  married  the 
count  of  Toulouse ;  and  Teresa,  who  married  Beltran, 
Count  of  Provence.  Ermesinda  died  on  the  1st  of  De- 
cember, 1059,  and  was  buried  in  the  monastery  of  St. 
John  de  la  Pena.  Some  authors  tell  us  that  Ramiro 
was  married  twice,  and  that  his  first  wife's  name  was 
Gisberga ;  others,  that  both  names  are  given  to  the 
same  queen.  Ramiro  spent  nearly  all  his  life  in  wars, 
especially  with  his  brother  Garcia,  the  king  of  Navarre, 
and  was  killed  in  battle  about  the  year  1067,  leaving 
the  throne  to  his  son,  Don  Sancho  Ramirez. 


DONA  FELICIA. 
(QUEEN  OF  ARAGON  AND  NAVARRE.) 
*"  1063. 

REIGN  OF  SANCHO  RAMIREZ. 

FELICIA,  the  wife  of  Sancho  Ramirez,  the  second 
king  of  Navarre,  was  the  daughter,  by  his  wife  Cle- 
mencia,  of  Armengaul,  count  of  Urgel.  She  gave 
birth  to  three  sons,  who  all  reigned  in  succession — 


BERTA,    OR    INKS.  63 

Pedro,  Alfonso,  and  Ramiro.  Don  Sancho  Ramirez 
was  an  excellent  and  brave  prince,  and  engaged, 
during  the  greater  part  of  his  life,  in  wars  with  the 
Moors,  in  which  he  was  very  successful.  Don  Sancho 
Garcia,  the  king  of  Navarre,  having  in  1076  been 
murdered  by  his  own  brother,  Ramon,  the  Navarrese 
offered  the  crown  to  the  cousin  of  the  murdered  sove- 
reign, and  Sancho  Ramirez  having  accepted  it,  Aragon 
and  Navarre  once  more  fell  under  the  sway  of  one 
king,  with  the  exception,  however,  of  Bribrisca  and 
Rioja,  which  submitted  to  Alfonso,  the  king  of  Castile. 
The  latter  sovereign  laid  claim  to  a  better  right  to  the 
kingdom  of  Navarre  than  Sancho  Ramirez,  as  the 
king  of  Aragon  was  descended  from  an  illegitimate  son 
of  Sancho  the  Great,  while  the  Castilian  was  the 
legitimate  son's  offspring.  Sancho  Ramirez  was  killed 
at  the  siege  of  Huesca,  in  1094,  having  reigned  in 
Aragon  twenty-seven  years,  and  in  Navarre  eighteen, 
and  was  buried  in  the  church  of  San  Juan  de  la  Pena, 
by  the  side  of  his  queen,  who  died  in  April,  1086. 


64  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

BERTA,  OR  INES. 

(QUEEN    OF    ARAGON    AND    NAVARRE.) 

1094. 

EEIGN    OP   DON    PEDRO    I. 

DoSfA  BERTA,  or,  as  some  call  her,  Ines,  an  Italian 
lady,  was  the  wife  of  Pedro  I.,  the  third  sovereign  of 
Aragon  and  seventeenth  of  Navarre.  The  queen  gave 
birth  to  a  son,  called  after  his  father,  and  a  daughter, 
Isabel,  who  died  unmarried  on  the  same  day  as  her 
brother,  the  18th  of  August,  in  the  year  1104.  The 
king,  oppressed  with  grief  at  the  loss  of  his  children, 
survived  them  but  one  month,  leaving  the  throne  to 
his  brother,  Alfonso  the  Warrior. 


DONA  URRACA. 

(QUEEN  OF  ARAGON  AND  NAVARRE,  AND  IN  HER  OWN  RIGHT 
OF  CASTILE.) 

1104. 

REIGN  OF  DON  ALFONSO,  THE  WARRIOR. 

FOR  the  annals  of  this  queen,  vide  Queens  of  Castile. 


DOSfA    AGNES.  65 

vtff^fo.  '->•''• 

DONA  AGNES. 
11  34. 

B.EIGN    OF    DON    RAMIRO. 

DON  ALFONSO  the  Warrior,  having  no  children,  and 
his  only  surviving  brother,  Ramiro,  being  a  monk,  in 
his  will  bequeathed  his  dominions  to  the  Knights 
Templars,  Hospitalers,  and  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  but 
no  attention  was  paid  to  this  extraordinary  donation. 
The  nobles  of  Aragon,  assembling  at  Monzon,  chose 
for  their  sovereign  Ramiro,  though  he  had  been  forty 
years  leading  a  life  of  religious  seclusion,  first  as  abbot 
of  Sahagun,  then  successively  bishop  of  Burgos  and 
Pamplona,  and  lastly  of  Roda  and  Barbastro.  The 
Navarrese,  on  their  side,  never  having  been  contented 
to  submit  to  the  sway  of  the  monarchs  of  Aragon, 
seized  this  opportunity  to  separate,  and  proclaimed 
as  their  king  Don  Grarcia,  a  lineal  descendant  of  the 
royal  family  of  Navarre,  being  the  grandson  of  the 
murdered  king,  Don  Sancho. 

Pope  Innocent  II.  having  granted  a  dispensation  to 
the  monk -king  of  Aragon,  he  married,  in  1136,  Agnes, 
sister  or  daughter  of  "William,  Count  of  Poitiers  and 
Gruienne.  This  lady  gave  birth  to  a  daughter,  Petro- 
nilla,  who  was  betrothed,  in  her  infancy,  to  Raymond, 
count  of  Barcelona,  to  whom  Ramiro,  whose  age  and 
infirmities  incapacitated  him  for  the  cares  of  govern- 
ment, delegated  all  his  authority.  From  the  birth  of 
Petronilla,  no  farther  mention  is  made  of  the  queen, 


66  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

who,  it  would  appear,  lived  but  a  short  time  after  her 
marriage,  as  Ramiro  is  represented  as  a  widower 
when  he  retired  to  a  monastic  life,  in  1137,  having 
reigned  three  years.  It  is  probable  Agnes  did  not 
survive  the  birth  of  her  daughter. 


PETRONILLA. 

(QTTF.F.V  IN  HER  OWN  RIGHT  OF  ARAGON.) 
1154. 

REIGN  OF  RAYMOND,  COUNT  OF  BARCELONA 

AND  PRINCE  OF  ARAGON. 

1  1  37. 

Do5fA  PETRONII.LA,  daughter  of  Ramiro  the  Monk, 
was,  as  already  stated,  betrothed  in  her  infancy  to 
Raymond,  count  of  Barcelona.  The  conditions  of  this 
marriage,  that  united  Catalonia  to  Aragon,  in  1137, 
were,  that  the  count  himself  should  never  bear  the 
title  of  "  king,"  but  merely  that  of  "  prince"  of  Aragon, 
and  that  the  offspring  of  the  queen  should  succeed  to 
the  throne  with  that  title  ;  that  the  arms  of  Catalonia 
should  be  united  with  those  of  Aragon,  but  that  the 
standard-bearer  should  always  be  an  Ara^onian  ;  that 
the  Aragonians  should  invoke  the  name  of  St.  Greorge, 
as  that  of  their  patron.  Petronilla  gave  birth,  in  1150, 


PETRONILLA.  57 

to  her  eldest  son,  Raymond,  who  succeeded  to  the 
throne  under  the  name  of  Alfonso,  and  subsequently 
to  Pedro,  who  inherited  Sardinia,  Carcassone  and 
Narbonne.  She  had  also  two  daughters,  Aldonza  or 
Dulcis,  who,  in  1181,  married  Sancho,  prince  of  Portu- 
gal, and  another,  whose  name  is  not  recorded,  though 
she  is  said  to  have  married  Armengaul,  count  of 
Urgel.  The  queen  being  extremely  ill,  previous  to 
the  birth  of  her  eldest  child,  made  a  will,  providing 
that  should  the  infant  prove  a  son,  he  should  succeed 
to  the  crown,  but,  if  a  daughter,  the  throne  should 
be  inherited  by  her  husband.  This  will,  excluding 
a  female  from  inheriting  the  crown,  was  ever  after 
quoted  as  a  precedent,  against  the  sovereigns  of  Ara- 
gon,  when  they  attempted  to  bequeath  the  crown  to  a 
daughter.  Though  Raymond,  during  the  life  of  his 
father-in-law,  was  in  fact,  if  not  nominally,  the  king 
of  Aragon,  he  strictly  conformed  to  the  conditions,  and 
never  took  the  title,  though  his  wife  did  that  of  queen, 
from  the  time  of  her  father's  death,  in  1154.  Ray- 
mond proved  himself  fully  capable  of  discharging  the 
duties  of  his  important  trust,  governing  the  kingdom 
with  prudence  and  moderation,  and  defending  it  with 
ability  and  valor.  With  ready  tact,  he  managed  to 
keep  always  at  peace  with  his  powerful  brother-in-law, 
the  King  of  Castile,  Alfonso  VIII.,  and  in  his  wars 
with  the  Moors  was  extremely  successful.  Raymond 
dying  in  August  of  1162,  Petronilla  reigned  one  year, 
during  the  minority  of  her  son,  but  on  his  attaining 
his  thirteenth  year,  in  1163,  by  the  advice  of  the  nobles 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 


resigned  the  crown  to  him.      The  queen  died  on  the 
3d  of  October,  1173,  in  Barcelona. 


SANCHA. 

1174. 

REIGN   OF    ALFONSO    I. 

1163. 

REIGN    OF    PEDRO    II. 
1197. 

SANCHA,  daughter  of  Alfonso  VIII.,  king  of 
Castile,  and  of  his  second  wife,  Rica,  was  in  1174  mar- 
ried to  Alfonso  II.,  king  of  Aragon.  This  marriage 
had  been  projected  between  Raymond,  prince  of  Ara- 
gon, and  the  emperor  of  Castile ;  but  some  disagree- 
ment subsequently  occurring,  it  was  broken  off  by  the 
young  king  of  Aragon  after  his  accession,  and  ambas- 
sadors were  sent  to  Emmanuel,  emperor  of  Constan- 
tinople, with  proposals  for  the  hand  of  his  daughter, 
Maria.  The  offer  of  the  king  of  Aragon  was  accepted, 
but  the  fleet  of  the  Pisanos  preventing  the  princess 
from  setting  out  for  some  months,  Alfonso  in  the 
meanwhile  altered  his  mind,  and,  on  Maria's  arrival  at 
Montpelier,  she  was  greeted  with  the  news  of  the  mar- 
riage of  her  intended  husband,  with  his  first  betrothed 


SANCHA.  69 

bride,  the  infanta  of  Castile.  "William,  the  Lord  of 
Montpelier,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  Greek 
nobles  who  accompanied  her,  married  the  disappointed 
bride ;  but  one  of  the  conditions  of  this  marriage  was, 
that  the  principality  of  Montpelier  should  be  the 
inheritance  of  Maria's  offspring,  whether  son  or  daugh- 
ter. The  issue  of  this  union  was  a  daughter,  called 
after  her  mother  Maria,  and  this  daughter  subse- 
quently married  Pedro  II.,  son  of  her  mother's  former 
suitor. 

Sancha  gave  birth  to  three  sons ;  Pedro,  Alfonso, 
who  inherited  the  condado  of  Provence,  and  Ferdinand, 
who  became  a  monk.  She  had  also  four  daughters, 
three  of  whom  were  married  during  the  reign  of  their 
brother  Pedro ;  Constance,  first  to  Emenius,  king  of 
Hungary,  and,  after  his  death,  to  the  Emperor  Frede- 
rick, king  of  Sicily  ;  Leonor  and  Sancha,  to  two  counts 
of  Toulouse,  father  and  son  ;  the  fourth  daughter, 
Dulce,  took  the  veil  in  the  monastery  of  Sixena. 
Alfonso  II.,  dying  in  April,  1196,  left  Sancha  regent 
of  the  kingdom,  and  guardian  of  the  royal  children, 
until  the  eldest  should  attain  his  majority.  On  the 
accession  of  Pedro,  in  1197,  an  unhappy  misunder- 
standing taking  place  between  him  and  his  mother,  the 
latter  betook  herself  to  her  own  dominions,  the  towns 
assigned  her  as  a  jointure  by  her  husband,  and 
erected  her  standard  in  opposition  to  that  of  the  king. 
Through  the  mediation  of  the  king  of  Castile,  her 
nephew,  with  whom  Sancha  and  her  son  had  an 
interview  in  Hariza,  in  September,  1200,  the  difficul- 


70  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

ties  were  brought  to  a  happy  termination,  and  it  was 
agreed  that  the  queen-dowager  should  give  up  the 
towns  of  Hariza,  Embite,  and  Epila,  which,  from  their 
situation  on  the  frontiers  of  Castile,  were  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  the  king  of  Aragon,  and 
had  been,  in  some  measure,  the  occasion  of  the  ill  feel- 
ing between  Pedro  and  his  mother,  as  the  latter  could, 
through  them,  command  free  egress  to  Castile,  and 
disturb,  at  her  pleasure,  the  peace  of  the  two  king- 
doms. Sancha  received,  as  a  compensation,  the  town 
of  Azron,  the  castle  and  town  of  Tortosa,  retaining  the 
other  castles  and  towns  in  Catalonia  assigned  her  by 
her  husband.  Though  this  temporary  reconciliation 
lasted  but  a  short  time,  it  was  renewed,  through  the 
interference  of  the  nobles,  in  1201.  The  next  public 
act  of  Queen  Sancha  was  in  1207,  when  she  nego- 
tiated with  the  pope  to  procure  the  marriage  of  her 
daughter,  Constance,  widow  of  the  king  of  Hungary, 
with  Frederic,  king  of  Sicily,  son  of  the  Emperor 
Henry.  Constance,  through  the  assistance  of  Leopold, 
duke  of  Austria,  had,  after  the  death  of  her  husband, 
left  Hungary,  and  was  at  that  time  residing  with  her 
mother  in  Aragon.  Sancha  despatched  Colom,  her  own 
secretary,  to  treat  with  the  pope,  offering,  in  case  he 
would  facilitate  the  marriage,  to  send  two  hundred 
mounted  gentlemen  to  the  assistance  of  Sicily,  and 
that  she  would  bring  her  daughter,  accompanied  by 
four  hundred  more,  on  condition  that  the  expenses 
incurred  by  the  queen  should  be  refunded  to  her  in 
case  the  marriage  did  not  take  place.  The  pontiff 


MARIA    DE    MOXTPELIER.  71 

having  acceded  to  the  proposal,  the  marriage  was 
agreed  on  by  the  ambassadors  of  Rome  and  Sancha, 
who,  accompanied  by  her  son,  the  king  of  Aragon, 
received  them  in  Saragossa  in  1208.  Constance  was 
accompanied  to  Sicily  by  her  brother,  Alfonso,  the 
count  of  Provence,  and  a  brilliant  retinue  of  Ara^o 

1  O 

nian  and  Catalonian  nobles  and  gentlemen.  They 
landed  safely  in  Palermo  in  February  of  1209,  but  the 
nuptial  festivities  were  interrupted  and  saddened  by  the 
death  of  the  count  of  Provence,  and  numbers  of  the 
Spanish  cavaliers,  to  whom  the  malaria  proved  fatal. 

Sancha  died  in  November  of  1208,  in  the  monastery 
of  Sixena,  to  which  she  had  retired. 


MARIA  DE  MONTPELIER. 
1304. 

REIGN    OF    PEDRO    II.,    (THE    CATHOLIC.) 
1296. 

MARIA,  daughter  of  the  Grecian  princess,  Mary  of 
Constantinople,  and  of  William,  Lord  of  Montpelier, 
married  in  1204,  two  years  after  the  death  of  her 
father,  Pedro  II.,  king  of  Aragon.  Though  this  alli- 
ance united  to  the  crown  of  Aragon  the  lordship  of 
Montpelier,  the  disparity  that  existed  between  the  age 
of  the  young  king  and  that  of  his  consort,  and  her 


72  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

want  of  beauty  rendered  it  a  most  unhappy  one 
Pedro,  little  valuing  the  mental  qualities  of  Maria, 
who  was  one  of  the  most  amiable  princesses  of  her 
time,  sought  in  others  those  personal  charms  of  which 
she  was  unfortunately  wholly  destitute,  but,  to  give 
color  to  the  neglect  proceeding  from  his  own  incon- 
stant nature,  alleged  the  queen's  former  marriage  as 
a  motive  for  desiring  a  divorce.  Maria  had  married 
during  her  father's  life,  and  in  obedience  to  his  com- 
mands, the  Count  of  Comminges  ;  but  this  union  was 
never  publicly  acknowledged,  and  was  annulled  after 
Maria  had  given  birth  to  two  daughters,  in  conse- 
quence of  its  being  discovered  that  the  count  had 
already  married  two  other  ladies,  both  of  whom  were 
still  living.  Though  Pedro  repaired  in  person  to  the 
court  of  Rome,  made  his  kingdom  a  feudatory  to  the 
church,  and  received  his  crown  from  the  hands  of  the 
pope,  who  bestowed  on  him  the  surname  of  "  the 
Catholic,"  the  pontiff  refused  to  grant  a  divorce  on 
such  insufficient  grounds.  In  1207,  through  the  good 
offices  of  Don  G-uillen  de  Alcala,  a  temporary  reconcili- 
ation was  effected  between  the  king  and  queen,  and  in 
1208  she  gave  birth  to  her  only  son  James,  subse- 
quently surnamed  the  Conqueror.  The  means  taken 
to  give  a  name  to  the  young  heir  of  the  crown  are  too 
characteristic  of  the  superstitious  manners  of  the  age 
not  to  be  recorded  here.  Maria,  desirous  of  selecting 
for  her  babe  a  patron  saint  from  among  the  holy  apos- 
tles, yet  unwilling  that  her  preference  of  one  should 
give  offence  to  the  others,  ordered  that  twelve  wax 


8AIVCHA.  7fl 

tapers  bearing  each  the  name  of  one  of  them  should  be 
lighted  and  placed  around  the  cradle.  That  which  bore 
the  name  of  the  warlike  patron  saint  of  Spain  having 
far  exceeded  in  brilliancy  and  duration  the  other  tapers, 
the  prince  was  christened  Santiago,  or,  as  the  Ara- 
gonese  call  him,  Jaime  (James.)  The  good  under- 
standing between  Pedro  and  his  queen  was  of  short 
duration ;  and  the  feeling  of  dislike  for  his  queen  be- 
came so  deadly,  that  neither  in  private  nor  in  public 
would  the  king  acknowledge  her  son  as  his,  but 
named  his  own  brothers  as  his  successors  to  the  crown, 
and  renewed  his  suit  for  a  divorce.  Stung  by  the  in- 
justice done  to  herself  and  her  innocent  offspring, 
Maria,  who  had  hitherto  lived  in  patient  resignation 
in  her  own  domains  of  Montpelier,  determined  to  plead 
her  cause  in  person  at  the  court  of  Rome,  and  accord- 
ingly repaired  thither,  in  1213.  Though  Innocent  III., 
who  then  occupied  the  papal  throne,  was  the  great 
friend  of  the  king  of  Aragon,  the  queen's  rights  were 
too  well  established  by  the  fact  of  the  existence  of  her 
first  husband's  wives  (Dona  Gruillerma  de  La  Barca, 
and  Beatrix,  daughter  of  the  Count  of  Bigorra)  to  be 
set  aside,  and  judgment  was  pronounced  against  Don 
Pedro,  who  was  enjoined  to  live  in  peace  with  his 
legitimate  consort,  and  treat  her  with  affection.  Hav- 
ing obtained  the  justice  due  to  her  in  this  cause,  Maria 
submitted  to  the  pontiff's  decision  the  dispute  between 
herself  and  her  half  brothers,  Gruillen  and  Bernardo  de 
Montpelier,  who,  though  bastards,  being  the  sons  of 
Ines  de  Entenza,  whom  the  lord  of  Montpelier  had 
4 


74  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

married  during  the  life  of  his  wife,  the  mother  of 
Maria,  laid  claim  to  the  domains  of  Montpelier.  Here 
also  the  queen  was  successful,  the  decision  being 
entirely  in  her  favor.  While  preparing  to  return  to 
Aragon,  Maria  received  the  news  of  her  husband's 
death,  that  prince  having  been  slain  in  battle  on  the 
13th  of  September,  of  that  year  (1213).  The  widowed 
queen  survived  but  a  few  months,  and  was  buried  in 
Rome  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter.  By  the  Count  ot 
Comminges  Maria  had  the  two  daughters  already  men- 
tioned, Matilda  and  Petrona.  and  by  Don  Pedro,  James, 
who  succeeded  his  father. 

During  the  reign  of  Pedro  II.  the  Spaniards  won 
over  the  Moors  the  famous  battle  of  Las  Navas  de 
Tolosa,  at  which  were  present,  with  their  forces,  the 
kings  of  Aragon,  Castile,  and  Navarre,  and  in  which 
the  Christians  performed  prodigies  of  valor,  being  infi- 
nitely exceeded  in  numbers  by  the  Infidels,  who 
amounted,  if  we  may  credit  the  chronicles,  to  up- 
wards of  five  hundred  thousand  men,  under  the  em- 
peror of  Morocco,  Mahomet  Enacer.  Though  sur- 
named  "  the  Catholic"  by  the  pope,  on  account  of  the 
zeal  he  had  displayed  for  the  interests  of  the  church, 
Pedro  took  up  arms  in  favor  of  the  counts  of  Toulouse, 
who  favored  the  heresy  of  the  Albigenses,  against  the 
Count  Simon  de  Montfort,  who  headed  the  crusade 
ordered  against  that  sect.  Count  de  Montfort  had 
been  high  in  favor  with  Pedro,  who  admired  the 
military  talents  of  this  great  chieftain,  and  had  en- 
trusted his  son  James  to  his  care,  but  de  Montfort 


SANCHA.  75 

having  accepted  the  command  of  the  army  that  invad- 
ed the  territories  of  the  lords  of  Toulouse,  both  of 
whom,  father  and  son,  it  will  be  remembered,  had 
married  sisters  of  Don  Pedro,  that  prince  resented  it, 
and  undertook  to  defend  them.  The  king  of  Aragon 
had  entreated  of  the  pope,  that,  however  the  heretical 
counts  might  be  punished,  their  dominions  might  be 
respected,  as  these  were  the  legitimate  inheritance  of 
his  nephews  ;  but  the  pope  refused  this  request,  and  de 
Montfort,  who  coveted  these  possessions,  invaded  and 
ravaged  them  mercilessly.  The  king,  enraged  at  this 
conduct  of  his  former  friend,  assembled  an  army, 
and  besieged  him  in  Maurel  ;  but  the  besieged  sallying 
forth,  Pedro  was  defeated  and  slain. 

By  his  first  wife,  a  niece  of  the  Count  of  Forcalquer, 
Don  Pedro  had  one  son,  Ramon,  who  died  in  his  in- 
fancy. Of  this  lady  we  know  neither  the  name  nor 
the  dates  of  her  marriage  and  death,  though  it  was 
within  a  short  time  after  her  decease,  that  the  king 
married  his  second  wife,  Maria  de  Montpelier. 


76  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

ELEANOR  OF  CASTILE. 

1221. 
VIOLANTE  OF  HUNGARY. 

1227. 

TERESA  GIL  DE    VIDAURA. 
1255. 

REIGN  OF  JAMES  II.       THE  CONQUEROR. 
121. 

THE  reign  of  James  II.  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
of  the  thirteenth  century.  An  orphan  ere  he  had 
attained  his  fifth  year,  heir  to  a  kingdom  divided  by 
the  factions  of  his  uncles  Sancho  and  Fernando,  the 
childhood  of  this  prince  was  surrounded  by  difficulties 
and  perils,  that  doubtless  greatly  contributed  to  the 
early  development  of  the  martial  spirit  he  displayed 
throughout  the  course  of  his  long  and  glorious  career. 
Traits  are  related  of  his  boyish  valor  that  would  be 
deemed  incredible  were  they  not  authenticated  by  the 
testimony  of  grave  and  trustworthy  writers.  At  the 
death  of  his  father,  in  1213,  James  was  a  prisoner  in 
the  hands  of  the  Count  of  Montfort,  but  at  the  earnest 
and  reiterated  entreaties  of  the  Aragonese  and  Cata- 
lans, Pope  Innocent  III.  ordered  the  count  to  give  him 
up  to  the  Cardinal  Pedro  of  Benavente ;  and,  the  prince 
having  been  received  by  a  number  of  nobles  and  gen- 
tlemen in  Narbonne,  was  conducted  to  Monzon,  there 


ELEANOR    OF    CASTILE,    ETC.  77 

proclaimed  king,  and  thence  to  Lerida,  where  he  was 
sworn.  This  was  the  first  time  the  oath  of  allegiance 
been  taken  by  the  people  of  Aragon,  or  the  Catalans ; 
but  it  was  ever  after  continued  on  the  accession  of  a 
new  sovereign,  the  latter  previously  swearing  to  guard 
and  observe  the  fueros  and  privileges  of  his  subjects. 
It  was  enacted  in  the  Cortes  of  Monzon  that  Sancho, 
the  young  king's  uncle,  should  govern  the  kingdom 
until  the  sovereign  attained  his  majority,  and  the  guar- 
dianship of  the  latter  was  entrusted  to  Fray  Guillen  de 
Monredon,  Grand  Master  of  the  Templars.  To  pre- 
vent either  of  his  uncles  from  obtaining  possession  of 
the  king,  he  was  placed  in  the  strong  town  of  Mon- 
zon. No  choice  could  have  been  more  injudicious,  than 
that  of  Sancho  as  regent,  and  his  conduct  soon  became 
so  tyrannical,  and  his  ambitious  motives  so  evident, 
that  the  adherents  of  the  young  sovereign  deemed 
it  necessary  that  he  should  abandon  his  strong  re- 
treat, and  by  his  presence  endeavor  to  restore  order, 
and  remedy,  in  some  degree,  the  evils.  The  misera- 
ble state  of  public  affairs  at  this  crisis  was  such  as  to 
require  that  some  prompt  and  decisive  measures  should 
be  taken.  The  royal  exchequer  was  so  poor,  it  scarcely 
provided  the  necessaries  of  life  to  the  king,  and  not 
only  the  revenues  but  also  the  domains  of  the  crown, 
were  in  the  hands  of  Moors  and  Jewish  usurers,  to 
whom  they  had  been  mortgaged  during  the  reign  of 
Pedro  II. 

The  infante,  Don  Sancho,  confiding  in  his  power, 
insolently  boasted  that  he  would  engage  to  cover  with 


78  THE    QUEENS    OP    SPAIN. 

fine  scarlet  cloth  every  step  James  would  make  in 
Aragon   after  leaving   Monzon.     So   sure   was  he  of 
keeping  him  there  as  long  as  it  suited  his  convenience. 
Having  been  warned  of  his  uncle's  intention  of  seizing 
him  on  the  road,  the  prince,  then  in  his  eleventh  year, 
donned  a  light  coat  of  mail,  and  at  the  head  of  his  few, 
but  loyal  followers,   fearlessly  proposed  to  encounter 
the  superior  forces  of  the  rebellious  infante ;  but  the 
latter,   either  deceived  in  some  point  as  to  time  or 
place,    or   advised   of    the   intended   resistance,    and 
unwilling  to  risk  taking  the  life  of  his  nephew,  suf- 
fered them  to  proceed  unmolested.     The  indomitable 
valor  of  James  was  yet  tempered  with  a  prudence  and 
command   of  temper,    when   circumstances   rendered 
these  qualities  necessary,  that  gradually  won  him  the 
respect  and  love  of  his  subjects,  and  secured  to  him 
the  submission  and  adhesion  of  the  rebel  lords  who, 
despising  his  youth,  had  attempted  to  assert  their  own 
independence  at  the  expense  of  the  commonwealth. 
In  1221,  by  the  advice  of  the  nobles  of  his  council, 
who  thought  that  an  alliance  with  Castile  would  greatly 
strengthen  the  king's  position,  James  married  Eleanor, 
daughter  of  Alfonso  VI1L,  by  his  queen,  Eleanor  of 
England,  and  aunt  to  the  reigning  sovereign  of  Castile, 
Ferdinand  III.     The  disparity  of  their  ages,  the  king 
being  but  in  his  thirteenth  year,  while  the  princess 
was  twice  that  age,  was,  probably,  the  principal  cause 
of  the  subsequent  disunion  between  the  royal  consorts. 
The  nuptials  were  celebrated  with  the  utmost  splendor 
at  Agreda,  a  town  on  the  borders  of  Aragon  and  Castile, 


ELEANOR    OF    CASTILE,    ETC.  79 

and  continued    at    Tarragona,   where   the  king   was 
invested  with  the  insignia  of  knighthood.     The  king 
and  queen,  being  on  their  progress  through  the  principal 
towns   of    Aragon    and    Catalonia,    a    quarrel   arose 
between  two  powerful  nobles,  Don  Nuno  Sanchez,  son 
of  the  infante  Don  Sancho,  and  Don  Guillen  de  Mon- 
cado,    Viscount   of  Bearne,    who  had   been   intimate 
friends,    but   who   now,    verifying   the  truth  of  the 
saying,  that  "great  events  from  trivial  causes  spring," 
had  become  inveterate  foes.     The  cause  of  this  deadly 
feud  was  no  other  than  the  refusal  of  Don  Guillen  to 
part  with  a  goshawk  that  Don  Nuno  Sanchez  wished 
to  possess.     The  king,   then  in  his  fourteenth  year, 
being  at  Monzon,  was  applied  to  for  his  protection  by 
Don  Nuno,  as  his  antagonist  was  supported  by  Her- 
nando,  the  warlike  Abbot  of  Montarazon,  and  uncle 
to  the  king.    Having  assembled  a  number  of  followers, 
they  waited  the  approach  of  Don  Guillen  to  seize  him. 
The  youthful  monarch  assured  Don  Nuno  that  justice 
should  be  done  to  both  in  the  Cortes,  but  that,  in  the 
meanwhile,  he  would  take  such  measures  as  would 
ensure  him   against  insult    or  outrage.     Assembling 
the  chief  inhabitants  of  the  town,  James  bade  them 
arm  and  station  themselves  at  the  gates,  and  admit 
each  lord  with  but  two  followers,  thus  defeating  the 
scheme  of  Don  Guillen.     The  power  and  insolence  of 
the  nobles  arrived  to  such  a  pitch  during  the  year 
1225  as  would  infallibly  have  ruined  a  prince  less 
energetic  and  persevering  than  James  ;  but  the  perils 
of  his  critical  situation  served  to  call  forth  the  resources 


80  THE    QUERNS    OF    SPAIN. 

of  his  powerful  intellect  and  nerve  him  to  resistance. 
The  power  of  the  monarch,  was,  however,  as  nothing 
to  that  of  his  great  barons,  each  of  whom  was  a  petty 
sovereign  ;  and  their  want  of  union  alone  prevented 
them  from  entirely  subverting  the  liberties  of  their 
oppressed  vassals,  and  enslaving  the  king,  whom  they 
actually  held  a  captive  in  Saragossa  three  weeks.  The 
king,  whose  spirit  could  ill  brook  such  insolence,  had 
determined  to  make  his  escape  through  a  casement, 
by  means  of  a  ladder  ;  but  Leonor,  who  was  with  him, 
refusing  to  compromise  her  dignity  by  this  adventurous 
mode  of  egress,  James,  who  was  too  good  a  knight  to 
leave  the  lady  behind,  gave  up  the  plan  that  promised 
him  unconditional  release,  and  accepted  the  terms 
proposed  by  his  rebellious  vassals.  As  he  gradually 
strengthened  himself  on  the  throne,  his  valor  and 
perseverance  conquered  every  obstacle,  and  he  became 
one  of  the  most  powerful  princes  of  the  time.  Anec- 
dotes are  told  of  his  personal  encounters  with  warriors 
who  had  been  trained  to  martial  exercises,  and  were 
in  the  full  vigor  and  strength  of  their  age,  when  James 
was  scarcely  emerged  from  boyhood,  yet  in  which  his 
agility  and  undaunted  spirit  left  him  the  victor. 
Having  arrived  before  the  castle  of  Callas,  with  but 
four  attendants,  he  was  joined  there  by  several  nobles, 
at  the  head  of  some  eighty  horsemen,  to  whom  he 
gave  orders  to  arm  and  prepare  to  meet  the  infante 
Don  Sancho,  who  was  on  his  way  to  defend  that  place. 
Don  Pedro  de  Pomar,  one  of  the  oldest  gentlemen  of 
the  king's  household,  represented  to  him  the  danger 


ELEANOR    OF    CASTILE,    ETC.  bl 

of  awaiting  with  so  few  men  in  an  open  plain  the 
arrival  of  the  infante,  and  entreated  he  would  seek  a 
more  advantageous  and  sheltered  position  on  a  neigh- 
boring height,  where  he  might  safely  await  the  arrival 
of  the  troops  that  were  to  join  him.  "  Nay,  Don 
Pedro,"  replied  the  king,  "  pardon  me  that  on  this 
occasion  I  follow  not  your  advice.  It  would  ill  beseem 
the  king  of  Aragon  to  retreat  before  his  born  vassals, 
who,  without  right  or  reason,  come  against  their  law- 
ful lord.  Believe  me,  I  will  not  rise  from  before  this 
rebellious  town,  and  will  subdue  it  or  die  on  the 
field,"  Don  Sancho  not  arriving  on  the  following  day, 
the  town  surrendered. 

In  the  year  1229,  the  Pope  sent  a  legate  to  Ara- 
gon to  examine  the  reasons  alleged  by  the  king 
against  the  validity  of  his  marriage  and,  though 
it  is  probable  want  of  affection  was  the  most 
potent  argument,  the  plea  of  consanguinity  was 
admitted  and  the  divorce  granted,  though  the  only 
son  of  the  disunited  pair  was  declared  legitimate,* 
and  acknowledged  by  James  as  his  successor  to  the 
throne  of  Aragon,  though  Catalonia  the  king  reserved 
as  an  inheritance  for  the  issue  of  any  marriage  he 
might  subsequently  contract.  James,  in  his  address 
to  the  council  assembled  to  discuss  the  case,  urged  no 

*  The  children  of  marriages  that  were  annulled  by  the  Pope 
were  frequently  declared  legitimate,  as  the  union  was  supposed  to 
be  contracted  bona  fide  by  the  parties,  and,  therefore,  it  would 
have  been  unjust  to  make  the  offspring  suffer,  when  the  fault  was 
unintentional. 

4* 


82  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

personal  motives  against  his  queen,  and  treated  her 
with  studied  courtesy  ;  as  Leonor,  on  her  side,  made 
no  opposition  to  the  divorce,  it  is  probable  it  had  been 
previously  agreed  on  between  them.  Leonor  retained 
her  jointure  lands,  to  which  the  king  added  large  gifts 
of  jewels  and  plate,  and  she  returned  to  Castile  with 
the  young  heir-apparent,  who  was  suffered  to  remain 
with  his  mother  until  such  time  as  it  should  be  judged 
advisable  that  he  should  exchange  the  companionship 
and  soft  caresses  of  his  mother  for  the  martial  school  of 
his  warlike  father.  Though  it  was,  doubtless,  a  great 
consolation  to  the  ex-queen  to  retain  thus  her  only 
child  with  her,  it  would  have  been  far  more  to  the  boy's 
advantage  had  she  left  him  with  the  father,  whose 
affection,  thus  deprived  of  its  first  object,  was  soon 
weanod  entirely  from  the  young  Alfonso,  and  rested 
wholly  on  the  children  that  were  subsequently  born  of 
his  other  queens.  In  1234,  Leonor  and  her  nephew, 
the  king  of  Castile,  had  an  interview  with  James, 
in  the  town  of  Hariza,  for  the  settlement  of  certain 
differences  concerning  her  jointure.  King  Ferdinand 
here  attempted  to  bring  about  a  re-union  between  the 
divided  pair,  but  his  endeavors  were  fruitless.  The 
king  of  Aragon,  however,  not  only  confirmed  her 
jointure  to  Leonor,  (in  case  she  continued  unmarried,) 
but  added  to  it  the  town  of  Hariza,  The  divorced 
queen  employed  the  remainder  of  her  life  in  pious  and 
beneficent  deeds.  She  was  the  founder  of  the  religious 
order  of  the  Promostratenses,  and  had  the  monastery 


VIOL  ANTE    OF    HUNGARY.  83 

near  Almazan  erected  at  her  own  expense.     Leonor 
died  in  1253. 

Violante,  daughter  of  Andres,  king  of  Hungary, 
and  of  his  queen  Violante,  was  the  next  wife  of  James, 
to  whom  she  was  married  in  1236.  This  princess, 
whose  many  virtues  are  highly  extolled  by  the  Ara- 
gonese  writers,  acquired  great  influence  over  her  hus- 
band, who  never  failed  to  consult  her  in  all  his  under- 
takings. Having,  in  1237,  resolved  on  the  conquest 
of  the  kingdom  of  Valencia,  in  spite  of  the  advice  to 
the  contrary  of  his  nobles,  who  considered  the  enter- 
prise hazardous  in  the  extreme  if  not  utterly  imprac- 
ticable, James  bound  himself  by  a  vow  on  the  altar  of 
the  church  of  St.  Mary  del  Puch,  in  the  presence  of 
the  nobility  and  soldiery,  to  remain  on  the  frontiers 
unjil  he  should  have  made  himself  master  of  that  town 
and  kingdom.  That  the  queen  might  feel  no  anxiety, 
from  his  protracted  absence,  James  sent  for  her  and 
her  babe,  the  infanta  Violante,  and  communicated  to 
her  his  determination.  The  queen  and  the  infante, 
Don  Hernando,  who  had  accompanied  her,  vainly 
endeavored  to  dissuade  him  from  this,  in  their  judgment, 
desperate  project ;  but  with  James,  whose  resolution 
was  too  strong  to  be  shaken,  and  whose  firmness  bor» 
dered  on  obstinacy,  their  arguments  were  useless. 
After  this  interview,  which  took  place  at  Burriana,  at 
which  place  the  queen  was  to  await  the  issue  of  the 
siege,  the  king  returned  to  El  Puch  de  Santa  Maria, 
and  commenced  active  operations.  After  a  protracted 
siege,  James  attained  his  object,  and  on  the  eve  of  St 


84  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

Martin's  day,  in  September,  1238,  entered  the  famous 
city  of  Valencia,  thus  becoming  lord  of  territory  that 
in  fertility  and  beauty  was  unsurpassed  in  the 
world.  Though  the  constant  success  that  crowned 
the  arms  of  this  favorite  of  fortune  caused  him  to  be 
respected  in  his  own  dominions,  and  feared  abroad, 
this,  the  greatest  warrior  of  his  time,  could  neither 
crush  nor  expel  the  demon  of  discord  that  had  fixed 
its  abode  in  his  own  palace,  and  in  the  hearts  of  those 
nearest  and  dearest  to  him.  Alfonso,  the  estranged 
son  of  Leonor,  for  whom  his  father  seemed  from  his 
infancy  to  have  conceived  a  dislike  which  he  could  ill 
dissemble,  now  irritated  by  the  king's  reserving  Cata- 
lonia for  the  infante  Don  Pedro,  his  son  by  Violante, 
retired  to  the  town  of  Catalayud,  where  he  was  joined 
by  many  of  the  nobles  who  espoused  his  cause,  the 
natives  of  Aragon  being  extremely  displeased  with  the 
limits  fixed  to  that  country  in  1243,  by  which  a  large 
portion  of  its  territory  was  added  to  Catalonia.  Fear- 
ful lest  his  son  would  find  too  ready  and  willing  an 
ally  in  his  cousin  Ferdinand  of  Castile,  who  seemed 
greatly  inclined  to  show  favor  to  his  ill-fated  relative, 
James,  with  his  usual  forethought,  prepared  to  defend 
his  frontiers  from  Castile,  and,  with  consummate  art. 
contrived  to  allay  the  threatened  storm  in  that  quarter 
by  the  marriage,  in  1246,  of  his  daughter  Violante  to 
Prince  Alfonso,  the  heir  of  the  Castilian  crown.  In 
1248,  deeming  he  might  now  do  so  with  safety,  James 
made  public  the  division  of  his  dominions  among  the 
sons  of  Violantft.  which  he  had  determined  should  take 


VIOLANTE    OF    HUNGARY.  85 

place  after  his  death.  To  Pedro,  the  eldest,  he  gave 
Catalonia  to  which  were  added  the  condado  of  Rivagor- 
za,  belonging  to  Aragon,  and  also  his  conquest  of  Mal- 
lorca  and  the  adjacent  islands.  To  James,  his  second 
son,  he  assigned  his  new  conquest,  the  kingdom  of  Va- 
lencia ;  to  Hernando,  the  third  son,  the  condado  of  Rou- 
sillon,  Confluent  and  Sardinia,  the  lordship  of  Montpe- 
lier,  and  several  towns  and  castles.  The  fourth  son, 
Sancho,  being  destined  for  the  church,  became  Arch- 
bishop of  Toledo,  and  to  him  he  left  3,000  silver  marks. 
In  case  these  sons  left  no  successors,  the  children  to- 
which  Violante,  wife  of  Alfonso  of  Castile,  gave  birth 
were  to  succeed,  with  the  condition  that  these 
dominions  were  never  to  be  added  to  the  crown  of 
Castile,  bat  be  governed  by  one  of  her  sons.  The 
injustice  thus  done  to  the  son  of  Eleanor  rankled  deeply 
in  the  breast  of  the  prince,  and  the  king  of  Castile,  in 
whose  palace  he  had  spent  his  youth,  and  by  whom  he 
was  greatly  loved,  felt  no  little  resentment  at  the 
wrongs  done  him.  Prince  Alfonso  also  gave  great 
offence  to  his  father-in-law,  by  claiming  the  town  of 
Xativa  as  part  of  his  wife's  dower,  which  town  James, 
at  his  queen's  suggestion,  denied  him.  The  Castilian 
also  interfered  with  James's  projects  of  conquests  over 
the  Moors.  These  differences  were  for  the  time  ad- 
justed by  the  queen  and  Don  Lope  de  Haro,  but  the 
flame  was  but  momentarily  subdued,  to  break  out 
anew  with  increased  violence.  Dona  Violante  died  in 
1255.  Besides  the  sons  already  mentioned,  she  had 
five  daughters — Violante,  married  to  the  prince  of 


86  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

Castile  ;  Constance,  who  married  Don  Manuel,  the 
brother  to  that  prince ;  Sancha,  who  assumed  a  dis- 
guise and  went  on  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land, 
where  she  died  in  the  Hospital  of  St.  John  in  Jeru- 
salem ;  Isabel,  who  married  Philip  the  Bold,  eldest  son 
of  king  Louis  of  France  ;  and  Maria,  who  died  a  nun, 
in  1267. 

James,  much  as  he  had  loved  and  esteemed  his 
second  wife,  seems  by  no  means  to  have  been  incon- 
solable for  her  loss,  as  in  the  very  year  of  the  death 
of  queen  Violante  we  find  him  living  with  Dona  Teresa 
Gril  de  Vidaura,  of  whose  beauty  and  wit  he  is  repre- 
sented as  being  deeply  enamored.  James  did  not, 
however,  then  declare  his  marriage,  and  this  circum- 
stance has  occasioned  doubts  to  be  entertained  as  to 
whether  it  ever  really  took  place,  though  he  acknow- 
ledged her  children  as  his  legitimate  offspring  in  1276. 
This  delay  in  making  his  union  public,  and  legalizing 
its  issue,  may  have  given  some  color  to  the  following 
account,  though  it  is  as  stoutly  denied  by  some  au- 
thors as  it  is  asserted  by  others.  During  the  interval 
that  elapsed  between  the  king's  divorce  from  Eleanor, 
and  his  marriage  with  Violante,  he  is  said  to  have 
been  secretly  married  to  Teresa,  who  brought  him  two 
sons.  Possession  having  extinguished  the  ardor  of  the 
king,  he  sought  and  obtained  the  hand  of  the  Hunga- 
rian princess,  regardless  of  the  sacred  ties  that  bound 
him  to  an  humbler  consort.  Resenting  his  faithless- 
ness, Teresa  appealed  to  the  pope,  alleging  her  prior 
rights  :  and  the  pontiff  having  been  privately  informed 


TERESA    GIL    DE    VEDAURA.  87 

by  the  bishop  of  Grerona,  to  whom  the  king  had  re- 
vealed it  in  confession,  of  the  validity  of  the  lady's 
pretensions,  seemed  greatly  inclined  to  decide  the 
point  in  her  favor.  James,  having  discovered  the 
source  from  whence  the  pope  had  obtained  his  know- 
ledge, in  an  excess  of  rage  ordered  the  tongue  of  the 
officious  informant  to  be  cut  out,  and  banished  him 
from  his  dominions.  For  this  sacrilegious  act  the  king- 
dom of  Aragon  was  laid,  in  1246,  under  an  interdict, 
which,  however,  was  raised  on  the  king's  performing  a 
penance,  and  recalling  and  reinstating  the  bishop  in 
his  honors.  This  story  is  not  mentioned  by  Zurita, 
and  is  most  strenuously  contradicted  by  Abarca,  who 
alleges  many  good  reasons  against  its  credibility,  and 
tending  to  prove  that  James  married  Teresa  after  the 
death  of  Violante.  Some  writers  affirm  that  Teresa 
was  the  object  of  James's  boyish  love,  and  that  he  had 
already  married  her,  when  reasons  of  state  policy  com- 
manded his  union  with  the  Castiliari  princess.  This 
last  is  the  opinion  of  G-aribay,  who  places  Teresa  first 
in  the  number  of  James's  queens.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
it  is  proved  that  James,  towards  the  latter  end  of  his 
life,  lived  with  Teresa,  and  that  he  endeavored  to  sever 
whatever  ties  might  have  existed  between  them,  by 
denying  their  marriage.  The  lady,  however,  was  noi 
to  be  shaken  oft'  so  easily,  and  she  again  laid  her  cause 
before  the  head  of  the  church.  Having  sent  to  Rome 
messengers,  whom  she  instructed  resolutely  to  defend 
her  outraged  honor,  and  her  injured  sons,  Teresa  re- 
tired to  the  convent  of  la  Zaidia.  there  to  await  the 


88  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

issue  of  her  appeal.  Of  this  difference  between  James 
and  Teresa  there  is  no  doubt,  however  apocryphal  the 
former  may  be.  The  king  dying  shortly  after,  having 
previously  legitimized  her  children,  Teresa  renounced 
the  title  of  queen  and  took  the  veil. 

We  shall  now  give  a  brief  sketch  of  some  of  the  most 
important  events  of  James's  reign,  so  far  as  they  are 
connected  with  his  children.  In  the  year  1266,  Prince 
Alfonso  greatly  strengthened  his  party  by  his  marriage 
with  Dona  Constanza  de  Moncada,  daughter  of  Don 
Graston,  Viscount  of  Bearne,  but  the  nuptial  festivities 
almost  immediately  gave  place  to  mourning,  the  ill- 
fated  prince  dying  the  same  year,  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
two,  regretted  for  his  many  amiable  and  good  qualities, 
and  pitied  for  his  unhappy  life  and  untimely  end.  His 
death  did  not  extinguish  the  torch  of  civil  war.  The  tur- 
bulent Catalans,  who  seem  to  have  possessed,  from  time 
immemorial,  the  same  restless,  unquiet  spirit  of  which 
they  have  given  so  many  proofs  at  a  latter  period,  and 
even  at  the  present  day,  seemed  resolved  to  give  the 
king  no  respite  from  their  discontented  clamors.  The 
death  of  the  crown  prince  now  gave  rise  to  contentions 
between  his  half-brothor  Pedro  and  James,  and  the 
nobles,  as  usual,  took  sides  and  espoused  their  quarrels. 
The  king,  though  vexed  at  these  domestic  broils,  being 
far  more  anxious  to  further  the  interests  of  prince 
Pedro  than  he  had  been  those  of  his  neglected  eldest 
Fon,  took  measures  to  obtain  for  him  the  hand  of 
Constance,  daughter  of  Manfred,  the  usurper  of  the 
throne  of  Sicily,  and  of  Beatrix  of  Savoy,  his  first 


TERESA    Gil.    DE    VKDAURA.  89 

wife.  Though  the  pope  expressed  decided  disappro- 
bation, this  marriage  was  concluded  in  1262,  and,  in 
the  same  year,  the  infante  Isabel  was  married  to  the 
eldest  son  of  the  king  of  France.  In  1271,  a  new 
source  of  uneasiness  was  added  to  the  burthen  of  cares 
that  oppressed  this  powerful  sovereign,  who  had 
scarcely  quelled  the  incipient  symptoms  of  rebellion 
that  appeared  in  one  quarter,  before  they  broke  out 
in  another.  An  unnatural  hatred  having  sprung  up 
between  Prince  Pedro  and  Fernan  Gronzalez,  a  na- 
tural son  of  the  king,  the  latter,  urged  beyond  the 
limits  of  endurance  by  his  fierce  brother,  finally 
raised  the  standard  of  revolt.  James,  whom  no  per- 
suasions on  the  part  of  his  nobles  could  induce  to 
pardon  his  son,  even  when  repentant  of  his  rashness, 
continually  excited  Prince  Pedro  to  the  severest  meas- 
ures against  him,  and  Fernan  Gonzalez  was  at  length 
taken  and  put  to  death  by  his  relentless  half-brother, 
in  ]  275.  This  atrocious  fratricide,  far  from  meeting 
with  the  king's  disapprobation,  seemed  to  give  him 
pleasure,  and,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  he  openly 
rejoiced  at  the  death  of  his  son.  Though  James,  in 
this  same  year,  allowed  of  the  establishment,  in  Aragon, 
of  the  Inquisition,  he  had  the  good  sense  to  refuse 
paying  to  the  pope  the  tribute  promised  by  his  father, 
replying  to  the  pontiff's  demand,  that  his  ancestors 
and  himself  had  won  their  dominions  from  the  Infidel 
with  their  good  swords,  and  that  it  would  ill  become 
him  to  hold  them  of  the  pope.  After  a  long  reign, 
during  which  this  warrior-king  fought  thirty  pitched 


90  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

battles  with  the  Moors,  feeling  the  rapid  approaches 
of  death,  James  abdicated  the  crown  in  favor  of  Don 
Pedro,  and  died  shortly  after,  on  the  27th  of  July,  1276. 
This  monarch,*  on  whose  baby-brow  an  impover- 
ished and  disputed  crown  had  been  placed,  and  who 
now  left  it  to  his  successor  secure,  and  enriched  with 
the  brilliant  gems  of  Valencia  and  Mallorca,  was  lav- 
ishly endowed  by  nature  with  the  physical  as  well  as 
mental  eifts  that  so  well  qualified  him  for  the  part  he 
was  to  enact.  One  of  the  tallest  men  in  his  kingdom, 
with  muscular,  agile,  and  well-proportioned  limbs, 
handsome  and  striking  features,  and  an  erect,  graceful 
and  dignified  carriage,  that  took  from  his  uncommon 
stature  all  appearance  of  awkwardness,  James  might 
be  pronounced  the  perfection  of  manly  beauty,  while 
nerves  of  iron,  and  a  constitution  that  had  never, 
from  childhood  to  the  period  of  his  death,  been  shaken 

*  The  new  object  that  had  taken  possession  of  the  king's  heart 
was  doubtless  the  cause  of  his  anxiety  to  get  rid  of  Dona  Teresa. 
In  an  interview  that  took  place,  in  1265,  between  the  sovereigns 
of  Castile  and  Aragon,  James  became  enamored  of  Dona  Beren- 
garia  Alfonso,  a  natural  daughter  of  the  infante  Alfonso,  (the 
king's  brother,)  and,  consequently,  niece  of  the  king  of  Castile. 
This  lady,  who  was  in  attendance  on  the  queen  of  Castile,  though 
the  lover  was  fifty-eight,  an  age  when  the  gift  of  pleasing  is 
generally  wanting,  consented,  forgetful  of  every  other  consideration, 
to  accompany  him  back  to  his  own  dominions,  and  live  as  his 
mistress  until  his  death.  Some  writers  assert  that  Dona  Berengaria 
was  the  fourth  wife  of  James,  and,  if  we  take  into  consideration 
the  high  birth  of  the  lady,  and  the  facility  with  which  the  king 
seemed  to  tie  and  unloose  the  gordian-knot  of  matrimony,  this 
assertion  may  not  appear  unfounded. 


TERESA    GIL    DE    VEDAURA. 


91 


by  any  of  the  diseases  incidental  to  humanity,  well 
fitted  this  royal  soldier  for  the  continual  and  excessive 
fatigues  and  hardships  he  seemed  to  seek  rather  than 
avoid  during  the  whole  course  of  his  existence.  Inured 
to  every  vicissitude  of  weather,  seldom  laying  aside 
the  armor  which  he  wore  alike  during  the  suffocating 
heat  of  the  summer  and  the  excessive  cold  of  winter, 
sleeping  as  soundly  on  the  bare  and  frozen  ground  as 
on  the  sumptuous  couch  of  his  palace  apartments, 
foremost  in  the  van,  wherever  danger  was  rife,  and 
sharing  with  his  men  not  only  the  perils,  but  the  pri- 
vations of  an  active  military  life,  James  seemed  to 
bear  a  charmed  life.  The  annals  of  his  own  reign, 
written  by  himself,  witness  that  like  the  illustrious  Ro- 
man, this  second  Caesar  was  gifted  with  the  ability  to 
wield  the  pen  as  well  as  the  sword,  and  the  improve- 
ments and  additions  he  introduced  in  the  Aragonese 
code  show  him  to  have  possessed  the  talents  of  an  able 
legislator  ;  while  his  courteous  and  elegant  manners 
fully  entitled  him  to  the  reputation  he  had  obtained 
of  being  the  most  gallant  and  accomplished  prince  in 
Europe.  Though  imbued  with  a  spirit  of  conquest 
that  seldom  allowed  his  sword  to  rest  in  its  sheath, 
James  ever  manifested  the  greatest  aversion  to  shed- 
ding Christian  blood,  though  constantly  at  war  with 
the  Infidels,  from  whom  he  wrested  the  kingdoms  of 
Valencia  and  Mallorca,  and  recovered  that  of  Murcia. 
He  would  not  be  persuaded  to  avail  himself  of  the 
opportunity  that  offered  of  possessing  himself  of  Leon, 
relinquished  his  rights  to  Navarre  and  the  Condado  of 


92  THK    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

Toulouse,  and  gave  up  to  Castile  his  conquest  of  Mur- 
oia.  It  is  said  that  he  never  signed  a  sentence  of  death 
without  openly  lamenting  the  necessity.  The  contem- 
porary of  two  great  sovereigns,  St.  Louis  of  France  and 
St.  Ferdinand  of  Castile,  James  was  superior  to  them 
in  every  kingly  virtue,  and  his  reign,  the  longest  since 
the  days  of  Solomon,  is  one  of  the  mosi  glorious  in  the 
annals  of  Spain.  It  may  be  objected  that  the  injustice 
shown  to  his  eldest  son,  and  the  implacable  resentment 
with  which  his  natural  son  was  hunted  to  death,  are 
traits  of  character  utterly  incompatible  with  those 
humane  and  kind  feelings  we  have  described  him  as 
possessing.  Bat  the  gentlest  natures  may  be  wrought 
up  to  a  state  of  excitement  that  leads  them  to  commit 
actions  the  most  foreign  to  their  native  disposition  ; 
and  at  this  distance  of  time,  it  is  impossible  to  judge  of 
the  conduct  of  James  in  cases  where  he  may  have 
been  provoked  by  circumstances  of  which  we  have  no 
knowledge. 

"  Children  are  disobedient,  and  they  sting 
Their  fathers1  hearts  to  madness  and  despair, 
Requiting  years  of  care  with  contumely.'' 

**###*## 

"  His  outraged  love  perhaps  awaken'd  hate, 
And  thus  he  was  exasperated  to  ill." 


CONSTANCE    OF    SICILY.  93 

CONSTANCE  OF  SICILY. 
1276. 

REIGN    OF   PEDRO    III.,  THE    GREAT. 

CONSTANCE  was  the  daughter  by  his  first  wife, 
Beatrix,  of  Manfred,  the  usurper  of  the  throne  of 
Sicily,  in  1262.  She  was  married  to  Pedro,  the  eldest 
son,  by  his  wife  Violante,  of  James  the  Conqueror, 
and  on  the  death  of  that  sovereign,  in  1276,  was 
crowned  queen  of  Aragon.  Don  Pedro  was  the  first 
king  that  made  use  of  the  privilege  conceded  to  his 
grandfather  by  the  pope,  of  being  crowned  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Tarragona  in  the  name  of  the  pontiff. 
Don  Pedro,  however,  introduced  a  modification  in  the 
form,  that  took  away  all  acknowledgment  of  holding 
the  crown  of  the  church,  by  protesting,  previous  to  his 
coronation,  "  that  he  did  not  receive  the  crown  from 
the  archbishop  in  the  name  of  the  church  of  Rome, 
either  for  or  against  her." 

Manfred,  who  had  usurped  the  crown  of  Sicily,  from 
his  nephew  Conradino,  Duke  of  Soissons,  was  in  turn 
defeated  and  slain  by  the  forces  of  Charles  of  Anjou, 
on  whom  the  pope  had,  ex  sua  auctoritate,  bestowed 
the  kingdom,  and  that  prince  having  caused  Conradin, 
the  rightful  successor  to  be  beheaded  on  a  scaffold, 
together  with  his  young  cousin,  Frederic,  Duke  of 
Austria,  Constance  being  the  next  in  kin  to  the  mur- 
dered prince  became  entitled  to  the  disputed  crown. 
The  despotic  government  of  Charles  having  given 


94  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

great  offense  to  the  Sicilians,  already  exasperated  by 
the  cold-blooded  death  inflicted  on  their  princes,  they 
deputed  the  famous  Procida  to  entreat  of  the  king 
of  Aragon,  that  he  would  rescue  them  from  the 
yoke  of  the  French,  and  take  possession  of  the  crown, 
to  which  he  was  entitled  in  right  of  his  wife.  This 
invitation,  given  soon  after  the  massacre  of  the  French 
by  the  Sicilians  in  the  Vespers  of  Palermo,  was  too 
much  in  accordance  with  the  ambitious  views  of  Pe- 
dro, who  had  inherited  much  of  his  father's  spirit  of 
enterprise  and  conquest,  to  be  disregarded  ;  but  with 
the  political  dissimulation  that  was  his  distinguishing 
characteristic,  he  carefully  concealed  his  intentions 
from  his  most  intimate  friends,  leaving  them  in  doubt 
whether  his  warlike  preparations  were  intended  for 
the  conquest  of  Constantino  in  Africa,  or  that  of  Si- 
cily, and  replying  to  the  direct  question  addressed  to 
him  by  the  Count  of  Pallas,  in  the  name  of  the  nobles  : 
"  If  my  left  hand  were  to  find  out  the  purposes  of  my 
right,  I  would  cut  it  off."  Having,  in  spite  of  the 
opposition  of  Pope  Martin,  who  vainly  fulminated  the 
censures  of  the  church  against  him,  accomplished  his 
object,  the  king  sent  for  Constance,  who,  with  her  eld- 
est son,  Alfonso,  had  been  left  regent  in  Aragon  during 
his  absence.  The  queen,  accompanied  by  her  child- 
ren, James,  Fadrique  and  Violante,  made  her  entrance 
into  the  city  of  Palermo  on  the  22d  of  April,  1283, 
and  was  enthusiastically  greeted  as  their  queen  by  the 
Sicilians.  The  infante  Don  Jaime  having  been  sworn 
heir  to  his  mother's  rights,  Don  Pedro  left  Palermo  to 


CONSTANCY    OF    SICILY.  95 

answer  the  cartel  sent  him  by  Charles  of  Anjou.  This 
curious  incident,  so  consonant  with  the  chivalrous 
spirit  of  times  when  almost  every  difference  was  left 
to  the  arbitrament  of  the  sword,  throws  too  much  light 
on  the  character  of  Pedro  to  be  omitted.  The  French 
prince,  enraged  by  the  continued  success  that  had 
hitherto  attended  the  arms  of  the  Aragonian  monarch, 
and  unable  in  the  field  to  check  his  advances,  deter- 
mined to  attempt  in  person  the  retrieving  of  his  for- 
tunes, and  to  this  end  sent  him  a  personal  challenge. 
The  purport  of  the  message,  which  was  delivered  by 
two  friars  (!)  to  Don  Pedro  in  the  presence  of  his  no- 
bles, was  to  the  following  effect,  and  in  nearly  these 
terms:  ;' You,  Don  Pedro,  king  of  Aragon,  having  in  the 
guise  and  semblance  of  a  robber  bandit,  rather  than 
as  an  honorable  knight,  entered  Sicily,  and,  without 
any  previous  declaration  of  war,  attacked  and  worsted 
King  Charles  in  several  battles,  though  that  prince 
had  never  been  your  enemy,  and  holds  his  kingdom 
from  the  church,  our  rightful  lord  and  king  has  de- 
termined to  prove  by  personal  combat  that  you  have 
usurped  and  taken  from  him  by  unfair  and  iniquitous 
means  his  dominions,  acting  as  chief  and  captain  of  his 
rebellious  subjects,  and  as  such  he  sends  you  his  defi- 
ance." The  bearers  of  this  cartel  not  having  been  pro- 
vided with  the  necessary  credentials,  were  dismissed 
without  an  answer ;  but,  lest  this  might  be  attributed  to 
lack  of  courage,  Don  Pedro  sent  the  Viscount  of  Castel- 
non  and  Don  Pedro  de  Q,ueralt  to  Rijoles,  to  inquire  of 
Charles  whether  the  message  had  been  sent  by  him, 


96  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

and  in  that  case  to  give  an  answer  in  the  king's  name. 
Charles,  acknowledging  the  challenge,  repeated  it  in 
the  same  terms ;  but  when  he  uttered  the  words,  "  Don 
Pedro  having  unfairly  entered  Sicily,"  was  interrupted 
by  the  viscount.  "  Whosoever  saith  this  lies,"  he  ex- 
claimed, "  and  my  lord  the  king  will  make  good  his  claim 
with  his  royal  person  against  yours,  giving  you  whatso- 
ever advantages  of  time,  place  and  circumstances  you 
may  desire,  or  that  your  age  may  render  necessary ;  or  if 
you  decline  a  single  combat,  let  it  be  a  contest  main- 
tained by  ten  against  ten,  fifty  against  fifty,  or  one  hun- 
dred against  one  hundred."  Pledges  were  then  ex- 
changed, and  judges  chosen  to  settle  the  time  and  place 
for  this  royal  encounter,  the  settlement  of  the  dispute 
being  left  to  the  two  kings  with  one  hundred  knights 
on  each  side. 

The  terms  having  been  settled,  it  was  agreed 
that  the  combat  should  take  place  on  the  plain 
before  Bourdeaux,  in  the  dominions  of  the  king  of 
England,  that  sovereign  being  also  chosen  master  of 
the  camp.  The  contending  kings,  and  forty  knights 
on  each  side,  were  sworn  to  keep  the  conditions  stipu- 
lated, one  of  these  being  that  a  truce  should  be  ob- 
served during  a  certain  number  of  days,  and  that 
whosoever  should  fail  to  present  himself  on  the  day 
appointed  (1st  of  June,)  should  be  ever  after  held  a 
vanquished,  perjured,  and  recreant  knight,  unworthy 
of  the  title  of  king,  and  be  despoiled  of  the  insignia  of 
royalty.  The  pope,  however,  unwilling  that  Charles 
should  stake  his  rights  on  the  chances  of  a  combat. 


CONSTANCE    OF    SICILY.  97 

commanded  him  to  refrain  and  absolved  him  from  his 
oath.  Pedro,  though  advised  that  his  antagonist, 
availing  himself  of  the  pretext  of  the  pontiff's  opposi- 
tion, would  not  meet  him,  was  deterred  by  no  conside- 
ration from  fulfilling  his  word,  and  regardless  of  the 
perils  he  was  exposed  to  in  a  journey  through  a  coun- 
try swarming  with  the  adherents  of  Charles,  gave 
orders  to  the  knights  chosen  to  maintain  his  cause, 
that  they  should,  in  detached  parties,  meet  him  at 
Boulogne.  The  king  performed  this  dangerous  journey, 
accompanied  by  three  knights,  who,  as  well  as  him- 
self, were  disguised  as  servants  to  their  guide,  a  dealer 
in  horses,  called  Domingo  de  la  Figuera.  Tha  little 
party  arrived  safely  on  the  appointed  day  on  the  plain 
of  Bourdeaux,  and  one  of  the  knights,  Don  Grilabert  de 
Cruillas,  was  sent  to  inform  Juan  de  Grilla,  seneschal 
of  the  king  of  England,  that  a  gentleman  from  the 
king  of  Aragon  desired  to  speak  with  him  outside  the 
gates.  On  the  appearance  of  the  seneschal,  accompa- 
nied by  several  gentleman,  Pedro  led  him  aside,  and, 
without  revealing  himself  to  him,  inquired  whether  he 
was  prepared,  in  the  name  of  the  English  sovereign,  to 
hold  the  camp,  and  ensure,  according  to  agreement, 
against  any  treason,  the  king  of  Aragon  and  his 
knights,  who  were  to  do  their  duty  that  day,  as  good 
men  and  true.  The  seneschal  replied  that  he  had 
already  advised  the  king  of  Aragon,  through  his  am- 
bassador, that  King  Charles  was  in  the  town  with  a 
multitude  of  men-at-arms,  and  that  he  neither  could 
nor  would  ensure  the  safety  <»f  the  king  of.  Aragon,  and 
5 


9ft  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

that,  should  he  persist  in  coming,  he  would  run  an  im- 
minent hazard  of  remaining  prisoner.  Don  Pedro  then 
expressed  a  wish  to  enter  the  lists,  and  this  being  grant- 
ed, he  rode  several  times  round  them,  then  once  more 
passing  the  gates,  he  revealed  himself  to  the  seneschal, 
saying,  "  If  you  or  your  king  are  ready  to  hold  the 
carnp,  we  and  our  knights  are  ready  to  do  battle." 
In  spite  of  the  entreaties  of  the  seneschal,  that  he  would 
instantly  secure  his  safety  by  a  prompt  departure  from 
this  dangerous  vicinity,  Pedro  absolutely  refused  to  do 
so  until  a  notary  had  been  called  to  certify  that  he 
had  been  punctual  to  the  rendezvous.  Ere  he  depart- 
ed, the-  king  left  his  helmet,  shield,  lance  and  sword 
with  the  seneschal,  to  be  hung  up  in  the  lists  in  token 
of  his  having  been  present  there.  Don  Pedro  was  soon 
after  forced  to  return  to  Aragon,  and  defend  his  own  do- 
minions, which  had  been  invaded  by  the  king  of  France, 
with  the  design  of  creating  a  diversion  in  favor  of  his 
nephew,  Charles  of  Anjou.  Though  the  French  were 
defeated  and  forced  to  retreat,  having  lost  by  the  ra- 
vages of  the  plague  their  king  and  a  great  part  of 
their  army,  Don  Pedro  was  unable  to  profit  much  by 
their  discomfiture,  or  to  secure  permanently  the  advan- 
tages he  had  gained,  being  carried  off  in  his  46th  year, 
after  a  short  illness,  on  the  10th  of  November,  1285, 
while  on  his  way  to  take  possession  of  the  dominions  of 
his  brother,  the  king  of  Mallorca,  that  prince  having 
leagued  with  the  enemies  of  Don  Pedro.  French  his- 
torians assert  that  he  died  of  a  wound  in  the  eye,  re- 
ceived three  months  previous  to  his  death,  in  the  last 


CONSTANCE    OF    SICILY.  99 

engagement  with  the  French,  but  the  truth  of  the 
account  is  strongly  denied  by  the  Aragonese  historians. 
During  his  short  reign,  Pedro  was  almost  incessantly 
harrassed  by  civil  disturbances.  Shortly  after  his 
accession,  an  insurrection  took  place  in  Catalonia, 
which  it  occasioned  him  some  trouble  to  quell.  The 
restless  Catalans  complained  of  the  king's  delay  in 
holding  a  Cortes  in  that  province,  and  of  his  having 
assumed  the  crown  without  taking  the  usual  oath, 
that  he  would  keep  inviolate  their  fueros.  The  mal- 
contents were  headed  by  the  Counts  of  Fox,  Pallas 
and  Urjel,  the  Viscount  of  Cardona,  and  other  power- 
ful lords.  Pedro,  having  vainly  endeavored  by  expos- 
tulations and  mild  measures  to  pacify  the  disaffected, 
assembled  an  army  of  100,000  foot  and  3,000  horse, 
and  besieged  the  rebels  in  Balaquer,  the  inhabitants 
of  which  taking  part  with  the  king,  the  chiefs  were 
compelled  to  surrender  and  throw  themselves  on  the 
sovereign's  mercy.  Several  were  imprisoned  for  some 
time,  in  the  castle  of  Lerida,  but  on  the  payment  of  a 
certain  fine,  they  were  released.  The  numerical  force 
of  the  king  seems  to  be  exaggerated,  but  we  find  the 
numbers  thus  stated  in  Abarca,  and  many  authors 
agree  in  saying  that  the  army  was  one  of  the  most 
numerous  of  that  age.  In  1284,  the  storm  broke  out 
in  another  quarter.  The  inhabitants  of  Aragon,  anti- 
cipating the  invasion  of  the  French,  and  conjecturing 
rightly  that  the  conquest  of  Sicily  would  cost  the 
former  country  dear,  endeavored  to  check  the  king's 
martial  ardor,  and,  organizing  the  ancient  Aragonian 


100  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

association  of  the  Union  *  sorely  perplexed  the  sovereign, 
whose  Catalan  subjects,  however,  gave  their  hearty 
concurrence  to  his  plans,  and  bore  with  patience  the 
greatest  proportion  of  the  expenses  of  the  war.  The 
Catalans  were  also  much  less  sensitive  on  the  score 
of  scruples  of  conscience  than  the  Aragonians,  who 
were  keenly  affected  by  the  censures,  anathemas,  and 
interdicts  of  the  pope,  and  vehemently  urged  the  king's 
acceding  to  the  wish  of  the  pontiff,  who  demanded  that 
Sicily  should  be  restored  to  the  French  prince.  Pedro 
united  to  a  most  romantic  valor,  the  talents  of  a  good 
general  and  able  politician,  and  had  he  lived  some 
years  longer,  would  probably  have  secured  the  crown 
of  Sicily  to  his  descendants  with  less  effusion  of  blood 
than  it  subsequently  cost.  Besides  his  legitimate 
children,  he  left  seven  by  two  mistresses, — James,  John 
and  Beatrix,  by  Maria  Nocolas,  and  Pedro,  Ferdinand, 
Blanca  and  Teresa,  by  Dona  Inez  Zapata.  He  was 
succeeded  on  the  throne  of  Aragon  by  his  eldest  son, 
Alfonso,  surnamed  "  the  Frank,"  and  on  that  of  Sicily 
by  James,  who,  previous  to  his  father's  death,  had 
been  sworn  heir  to  that  kingdom. 

Constance,    who   had   been    left   by  her   husband, 
during  his  expeditions  against  the  French,  regent  of 

*  The  privilege  claimed  by  the  Aragonese  nobles  of  resorting  to 
arms  on  any  infringement  of  their  liberties  by  the  monarch,  was 
set  forth  at  large  in  two  celebrated  ordinances,  signed  and  formally 
approved  by  Alfonso  the  Third,  in  1287,  entitled  the  "Privileges 
of  Union."  Under  this  formidable  charter  of  rebellion,  as  we  may 
term  it,  combinations  of  the  nobles  and  the  citizens  against  the 
sovereign  were  frequent. 


CONSTANCE    OP    SICILY. 

Sicily,  with  her  son  James,  was  every  way  worthy  of 
the  important  trust  confided  to  her,  and   remained  in 
this,  her  native  island,  till  within   a  short  time  of  her 
death.     Her  wise  and  truly  maternal   administration 
greatly  endeared  her  to  the  Sicilians,  and  her  humanity 
was  evidenced  in  the  prompt  and  efficient  measures 
by  which  she  saved    the    life  of  Charles  the  Lame, 
Prince  of   Salerno,    from    the   vindictive    rage   of  the 
inhabitants  of  Messina.     This  prince  had  been  left  by 
his  father,  Charles  of  Anjou,  governor  of  Naples,  when 
Roger  de  Lauria  appeared  before  that  city  with  the 
Sicilian  fleet,  on  the  18th  of  June,  1284.     The  Nea- 
politan galleys  that  lay  in  the  harbor  were  immedi- 
ately filled  by  the  Italian  troops,  headed  by  the  prince 
himself,   and  prepared    to   repulse  the  enemy.      The 
admiral,  however,  as  if  appalled  by  these  preparations, 
stood  out  to  sea,  apparently   declining    the  combat. 
This   ruse   had   the    desired    effect ;    the    thoughtless 
Charles,  flushed  with  the  hope  of  defeating  the  hitherto 
indomitable  Roger,  and  by  this  bold   stroke  retrieving 
the  fortunes  of  his  house,  despite  his  father's  positive 
injunctions  to  remain  on  the  defensive,  abandoned  the 
shelter  of  the  harbor,  and  pursued  the  retreating  fleet. 
So  confident   of  success   were   the   Neapolitans,  that 
they  held  in  their  hands  the  cords  with  which  they 
intended  to  bind  or  hang  the  foes  they  deemed  already 
vanquished,  and  called  attention  to  them,  with  shouts 
of  derision.     The  wily  de  Lauria,  having  obtained  his 
object,  now  turned  on  the  incautious  Neapolitans,  and, 
after  a   hard-fought  battle,  in  which  the  French  dis- 


102  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

played  the  brilliant  valor  that  has  ever  distinguished 
them,  the  superior  skill  and  experience  of  the  Spaniards 
obtained  the  mastery.     After  a  most  obstinate  resist- 
ance, the  flower  of  the  gentlemen  and  knights,  both 
French  and  Italian,  with  the  prince  himself,  despite 
the  prodigies  of  valor  performed  in  his  defence,  were 
captured  and  taken  to  Messina.     On  his  arrival  at  the 
palace,  the  queen,  wishing  to  spare  the  hapless  prince 
the  humiliation  of  being  seen  by  her  sons,  James  and 
Frederick,  caused  him  to  be  immediately  conveyed  to 
the  fortress  of  Matagrifon,  allowing  him  the  society  of 
his  chief  favorite,  William  of  Estandardo.     The  inhab- 
itants of  Messina,  transported  with  an  almost  delirious 
joy  by  this  important  victory,  and  exasperated  by  the 
sight  of  Prince  Charles,  which  revived  the  memory  of 
the  tyranny  so  lately  exercised  by  his  father,  rose,  en 
masse,  and  forcibly  entering  the  towers  where  many 
of  the  principal   French   and  Provencal   barons  were 
confined,  ruthlessly  massacred  them.     The  attack  was 
so  sudden  that  over  seventy  gentlemen  were  butchered 
by  the  furious  mob  ere  they  could   be  dispersed  and 

• 

order  restored,  though  the  measures  taken  to  that 
effect  by  the  queen  were  as  prompt  and  decisive  as 
the  urgency  of  the  case  required.  The  question, 
what  should  be  done  with  the  captive  prince,  was 
deliberated  in  the  Cortes  held  at  Messina,  and  it  was 
decreed  that  he  should  suffer  the  same  fate  to  which 
his  father,  under  similar  circumstances,  had  so  piti- 
lessly doomed  the  gallant  young  Conradin.  The  sen- 
tence being  intimated  to  the  royal  prisoner,  he  sent  a 


CONSTANCE    OF    SICILY.  103 

message  to  the  queen,  returning  thanks  to  her,  inas- 
much as  to  the  favors  already  conferred  on  him  was 
added  that  of  ordering  that  his  death  should  take 
place  on  Friday,  the  day  on  which  the  prince  of 
innocents  had  been  slain.  But  the  queen  was  too 
just  to  allow  of  so  inhuman  a  retaliation  ;  and  she  «ent 
an  answer  to  Charles,  the  purport  of  which  was,  that, 
if  the  prospect  of  dying  on  Friday  was  to  him  a  source 
of  gratification,  a  still  greater  happiness  would  be  de- 
rived by  her  from  the  exercise  of  that  power  which  she 
possessed,  of  saving  his  life  on  that  day  on  which  Christ, 
the  King  of  saints  and  sinners,  had  given  his  to  redeem 
all  others.  With  her  usual  tact,  concealing  from  the  irri- 
tated Sicilians  her  real  intentions,  she  objected  to  the 
sentence  being  carried  into  effect,  until  the  king  was  con- 
sulted, and  wrote  to  him  ostensibly  for  that  purpose,  but 
in  reality  urging,  in  the  strongest  terms,  the  propriety 
of  sparing  the  life  of  the  prince.  In  order  to  secure  him 
against  any  farther  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  excit- 
able populace,  the  queen  had  him  removed  to  the 
Castle  of  Cephalu,  that  fortress  being  much  stronger 
and  less  liable  to  attacks  than  that  of  Matagrifon. 
Don  Pedro  was  too  good  a  knight  to  approve  of  the 
decree  of  the  Cortes,  and  deeply  lamenting  the  death 
of  the  unhappy  gentlemen  who  had  already  fallen 
victims  to  an  infuriated  populace,  commanded  that  all 
the  rest  of  the  prisoners  should  be  set  at  liberty  under 
promise  of  never  bearing  arms  against  him — a  promise 
kept  by  one  alone,  whose  name,  consecrated  by  his 
scrupulous  observance  of  the  laws  of  honor,  has  been 


104  THK    QUKEN9    OF    SPAIN. 

recorded  with  the  praise  it  deserves.  The  admiral 
Reginaldo  Gallardo  was  the  only  knight  of  all  those 
who  were  liberated  that  felt  himself  bound  to  keep 
the  condition  under  which  his  freedom  was  granted. 
The  day  that  proved  so  fatal  to  the  prince  of  Salerno 
wai  a  joyful  one  to  Beatrix,  sister  of  Constance,  who, 
since  the  death  of  her  father,  Manfred,  had  been  kept 
a  close  prisoner,  and  now  recovered  her  freedom,  after 
a  captivity  of  eighteen  years.  Pedro  having  sent 
orders  that  the  prince  should  be  conveyed  to  Catalonia, 
Prince  James  waited  on  him  ere  he  left  Sicily,  and 
Charles  agreed  to  purchase  his  liberty  on  the  follow- 
ing terms  :  That  he,  Charles,  would  renounce  the  title 
of  king  of  Sicily,  and  all  claim  on  that  kingdom,  in 
favor  of  James  and  his  heirs,  giving  to  that  prince  his 
daughter  Blanche  in  marriage,  and  to  Frederic,  the 
next  brother,  another  daughter,  together  with  the  prin- 
cipality of  Tarento  ;  that  Louis,  Charles's  second  son, 
should  marry  Violante,  the  infanta  of  Aragon,  and  re- 
ceive Calabria  as  her  dower ;  that  the  children  of  Charles, 
with  several  French  and  Prove^al  lords,  should  remain 
as  hostages  to  the  king  of  Aragon  ;  that  Charles  should 
pay  to  that  monarch  a  certain  sum  of  money ;  and  that 
within  the  space  of  two  years,  this  agreement  should 
receive  the  sanction  and  approbation  of  the  pontiff, 
the  prince  binding  himself  to  return  and  place  himself 
in  the  hands  of  the  king  of  Aragon  at  the  expiration  of 
that  time,  should  these  conditions  not  have  been  ful- 
filled. To  relate  the  vicissitudes  of  the  long  war, 
that  desolated  for  many  years  the  fertile  plains  of 


CONSTANCE  OF  SICILY.  105 

Sicily,  would  greatly  exceed  the  limits  of  my  task, 
and  I  will  merely  record  those  incidents  connected 
with  them  that  relate  to  the  dowager  queen  of  Aragon 
and  Sicily.  Alfonso,  king  of  Aragon,  her  eldest  son, 
dying  in  1291,  her  second  son,  James,  inherited  his 
crown,  and,  being  obliged  to  leave  Sicily,  left  his 
brother  Fadrique  regent  of  that  kingdom.  James, 
having  subsequently,  with  a  view  of  making  peace 
with  France  and  the  pope,  renounced  all  right  and 
title  to  Sicily,  the  Sicilians,  indignant  at  his  thus 
tamely  surrendering  the  conquest  so  dearly  purchased 
by  his  brave  father,  and  giving  them  up  to  their  former 
hated  tyrants,  crowned  his  young  brother  Fadrique, 
who,  having  been  brought  up  among  them,  was  greatly 
beloved.  The  crown  thus  bestowed  on  Fadrique  was 
truly  one  ot  thorns,  for,  with  the  unaided  forces  of  Sicily, 
weakened,  moreover,  as  that  country  was,  by  civil  dis- 
sensions, he  was  to  carry  on  a  war  with  the  powerful 
king  of  France,  and  his  own  brother,  the  king  of  Aragon, 
who  had  bound  himself  to  aid  in  ejecting  him  should  he 
accept  the  sovereignty.  Bat  Fadrique,  though  young, 
was  fully  equal  to  the  arduous  duties  he  was  called  on 
to  perform,  having  inherited  from  his  mother  that  pru- 
dence which  had  ever  characterized  her,  and  from  his 
great  father  all  his  indomitable  courage  and  persever- 
ance. Constance  herself,  however,  towards  the  close 
of  her  life,  seems  to  have  lost  the  energy  that  had  for- 
merly led  her  to  urge  her  husband  to  the  conquest  of  her 
inheritance;  and  the  strength  of  intellect  and  of  will, 
5* 


106  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

that  had  once  made  her  treat  with  indifference  the  pope's 
opposition,  though  that  opposition  came  in  the  dread 
form  of  an  interdict,  and  maintain  herself  and  her  sons 
in  the  sovereignty  of  the  isle  of  her  birth,  entirely  for- 
sook her  as  she  advanced  in  years.  Fadrique  was  left 
by  his  mother  to  struggle  as  he  could  with  the  great 
powers  leagued  to  crush  him,  and  in  1297,  Constance 
repaired  to  Rome,  to  receive  the  absolution  of  the  pope, 
and  marry  her  daughter  Violante  to  her  son's  antago- 
nist, Robert,  Duke  of  Calabria.  Constance  died  in 
Barcelona  in  1302,  and  was  followed  to  the  tomb  in  the 
same  year  by  her  daughter  Violante.  So  careful  was 
she  in  her  last  moments  of  endangering  her  own  salva- 
tion by  any  acknowledgment  of  her  son's  rights,  that 
she  calls  him  in  her  testament,  not  king-  of  Sicily,  but 
Fadrique,  infante  of  Arag-on,  and  leaves  him  two 
towns  to  be  delivered  to  him  when  he  should  be  rein- 
stated in  the  favor  of  holy  church.  Strange,  that 
bigotry  should  thus  have  neutralized  all  the  firmness 
and  good  sense  of  which  this  princess  had  given  so 
many  proofs.  Her  pusilanimous  conduct,  in  this 
instance,  throws  a  shadow  over  the  otherwise  fair 
character  of  this  princess.  Constance  gave  birth  to 
four  sons,  Alfonso  III.,  who  succeeded  his  father  on 
the  throne  of  Aragon,  James,  who  was  at  first  king 
of  Sicily,  and  on  the  death  of  Alfonso  succeeded  him 
on  the  throne  of  Aragon,  and  Fadrique,  or  Frederick, 
who  became  king  of  Sicily.  She  had  also  two  daughters, 
Violante,  who  married  Robert,  second  son  of  Charles  of 


ISABEL    OF    CASTILE,    ETC.  107 

Anjou  and  cousin  to  the  king  of  France,  and  Isabel, 
who  became  queen  of  Portugal. 

NOTE. — Charles  of  Anjou  died  in  the  beginning  of  1285,  and  was 
succeeded  in  his  titles,  estates  and  pretensions  to  the  crown  of 
Italy  by  his  son  Charles  the  Lame,  at  the  time  a  prisoner  in  Aragon. 


ISABEL    OF   CASTILE. 

BLANCHE    OF   ANJOU. 

MARIA,  INFANTA   OF    CHIPRE. 

ELISEN   DE   MONCADA. 

REIGN   OF    JAMES    II.,    (THE    JUST.) 
1291. 

JAMES  having  succeeded  his  brother  Alfonso*  on  the 
throne  of  Aragon  in  1291,  from  motives  of  policy  con- 
tracted an  alliance  with  Castile,  in  November  of  the 
first  year  of  his  reign.  The  bride,  then  in  her  ninth 
year,  was  Isabel,  daughter  of  Sancho  the  Brave  and 
his  queen,  Maria.  Similar  motives  subsequently  dic- 
tating a  marriage  with  Blanche  of  Anjou,  the  king 
of  Aragon  availing  himself  of  the  usual  plea  of  con- 
sanguinity and  of  the  pope's  refusal  to  grant  a  dis- 
pensation, in  1296,  the  first  marriage  was  annulled, 
and  Isabel  returned  to  Castile. 

*  Alfonso  III.  died  in  1291,  on  the  18th  June,  in  the  sixth  year 
of  his  reign,  while  preparing  to  receive  his  destined  bride,  Eleanor 


108  THE    QJJEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

I 

The  second  wife  of  James  was  Blanche,  daughter 
of  Charles,  surnamed  the  Lame,  duke  of  Anjou,  King 
of  Naples,  and  pretender  to  the  kingdom  of  Sicily. 

The  conditions  stipulated  in  the  marriage  treaty 
were :  that  the  princess  should  receive  a  dowry  of 
100,000  silver  marks ;  that  the  king  of  Aragon 
should  send  back  to  Charles  that  prince's  three  sons, 
who  had  been  kept  as  hostages  in  Aragon ;  that  all 
prisoners  taken  during  the  war  by  the  Aragonese 
should  be  set  at  liberty ;  that  James  should  restore 
Sicily,  Calabria,  and  the  other  domains  of  Naples  to 
the  church ;  that  in  case  of  resistance  to  this  clause 
on  the  part  of  the  Sicilians,  he  should  use  such  means 
to  compel  their  compliance  as  the  pope  should  deter- 
mine ;  that  the  pope,  on  his  part,  should  revoke  all  the 
censures  fulminated  against  the  kings  of  Aragon,  and 
ratify  all  that  had  been  done  while  these  were  in  force, 
granting  to  the  present  sovereign  and  his  successors 
the  investiture  of  the  kingdom  of  Sardinia ;  that  the 
king  of  France  and  his  brother  Charles,  calling  himself 
king  of  Aragon,  should  renounce  all  claims,  and  desist 
from  all  pretensions  made  to  the  crown  of  Aragon ; 
and  that  Charles  should  absolve  the  king  of  Aragon 
from  the  payment  of  the  30,000  silver  marks,  given  in 
trust  to  the  late  king  Alfonso. 

Thus  did  James,  for  the  sake  of  being  reinstated  in 
the  good  graces  of  the  church,  tamely  give  up  the 
beautiful  island  he  had  inherited  from  his  mother,  and 

of  England.     He  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  James,  the  King 
of  Sicily. 


ISABEL    OF    CASTILE,    ETC.  109 

which  his  father  had  spent  so  much  blood  and  treasure 
to  conquer.  To  satisfy  his  conscientious  scruples,  ho 
-treacherously  gave  up  his  loyal  and  loving  Sicilian 
subjects  to  their  hated  foes. 

Of  Blanche,  little  is  recorded.  She  gave  birth  to 
ten  children  :  James,  who,  abdicating  his  right  to  the 
succession,  became  a  member  of  the  religious  and 
military  order  of  Montesa  ;  Alfonso,  born  in  1299,  who 
succeeded  to  the  throne ;  Pedro,  Count  of  Ampurias  ; 
Ramon  Berenguer,  Count  of  Prades ;  Juan,  Archbishop 
of  Toledo;  Constance,  who  married  Don  Juan  Manuel, 
grandson  of  Fernando  III. ;  Maria,  who  married  Pedro, 
Infante  of  Castile,  son  of  Sancho  IV. ;  Blanche,  Prioress 
of  the  Monastery  of  Sixena ;  and  Violante,  who  married 
the  Prince  of  Tarento. 

Blanche  founded,  in  1300,  a  convent  in  Saragossa ; 
an  act  of  piety  which  probably  procured  her  the  praise 
bestowed  on  her  of  being  "a  right  excellent  and 
Christian  princess." 

After  the  death  of  Blanche,  James  married  twice ; 
but  of  these  two  queens  nothing  but  their  name  is  pre- 
served. The  first  was  Maria,  Infanta  of  Chipre ;  the 
second,  Elisen  de  Moncada,  a  lady  of  high  rank,  sister 
of  Don  Ot  de  Moncada. 

Though  James  had  promised  to  assist  in  compelling 
the  Sicilians  to  submit  to  his  father-in-law,  he  showed 
little  alacrity  in  prosecuting  an  unnatural  war  with 
his  own  brother,  Fadrique,  whom  the  justly  indignant 
Sicilians  had  raised  to  the  throne ;  and  when,  after  a 
gallant  resistance,  the  fleet  of  the  latter  was  defeated 


110  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

by  that  of  the  Aragonese,  and  their  young  king  might 
easily  have  been  captured,  James  not  only  connived  at 
his  brother's  escape,  but  returned  to  Naples,  and  thence 
to  his  own  dominions,  protesting,  in  spite  of  the  remon- 
strances of  the  pope,  that  he  had  performed  his  part  of 
the  treaty,  and  would  take  no  further  share  in  the 
contest. 

The  part  taken  by  James  in  the  troubles  of  Castile, 
by  aiding  and  abetting  the  La  Cerdas  in  their  struggle 
for  the  crown,  is  noticed  in  the  annals  of  Maria  the 
Great  (vide  Queens  of  Castile). 

The  conduct  of  his  eldest  son,  James,  was  a  source 
of  great  vexation  to  James  II. ;  the  renunciation  of 
that  prince  to  his  right  of  succession  is  related  in  the 
life  of  Leonora,  reign  of  Alfonso  IV. 

During  the  reign  of  James  II.,  the  fall  of  the 
knights  templars  occurred,  the  most  famous  and  pow- 
erful order  of  the  church  militant,  so  shamefully  per- 
secuted by  Philip  IV.,  King  of  France.  When,  in  1312, 
the  council  of  Vienna  abolished  the  order,  and  confisca- 
ted its  immense  wealth,  James  II.,  in  conjunction  with 
the  kings  of  Castile  and  Portugal,  procured  an  honor- 
able exemption  for  the  knights  of  the  Spanish  Com- 
mendaries,  who  were  permitted  to  retain  their  pos- 
sessions during  their  lives. 

James  died  in  1327,  leaving  the  throne  to  his  second 
son,  Alfonso  IV. 


LEONORA.  Ill 

LEONORA. 
1  329. 

DON  ALFONSO    IV. 

THE  first  wife  of  Alfonso  was  Dona  Teresa  de  En- 
tenza,  Countess  of  Urgel,  by  whom  he  had  Alfonso, 
Pedro,  who  succeeded  him,  James,  Count  of  Urgel, 
Constance  who  married  James,  king  of  Mallorca,  Isabel 
and  Sancho.  The  two  last,  and  Alfonso,  the  first-born, 
died  young.  Dona  Teresa,  dying  in  child-bed  a  few 
days  previous  to  the  death  of  her  father-in-law,  never 
bore  the  title  of  Queen  of  Aragon,  and  Alfonso  subse- 
quently married  Leonora,  infanta  of  Castile,  by  whom 
he  had  Fernando,  Marquis  of  Tortosa  and  Juan.  This 
princess,  daughter  of  Ferdinand  IV.,  king  of  Castile, 
and  of  his  queen,  Constance  of  Portugal,  had  been  be- 
trothed, when  but  four  years  of  age,  in  1311,  to  James, 
prince  of  Aragon,  eldest  son  of  king  James  II.,  and  in 
1319,  on  attaining  her  thirteenth  year,  married  to  him. 
The  singular  temper  of  the  bridgroom  who,  renouncing 
the  throne,  subsequently  became  a  monk,  caused  the 
marriage  to  be  annulled.  This  prince,  whose  furious 
disposition  and  irritable  temper  led  him  to  commit  such 
acts  of  violence  against  some  of  the  principal  lords, 
that  his  father  deemed  it  necessary  to  put  a  check 
on  this  wanton  exercise  of  the  privileges  of  his  birth, 
became  moody  and  discontented,  and  to  vex  his  kind 
parent,  declared  it  his  intention  to  renounce  the  crown 
and  assume  the  cowl  of  the  monk.  Vainly  did  the 


112  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

amiable  monarch,  after  trying  every  other  argument, 
finally  offer  to  abdicate  the  throne  in  his  favor  ;  the  ob- 
stinate and  weak-minded  prince  persevered  in  his  reso- 
lution, not  however,  from  any  decided  vocation  for  the 
monastic  life,  but,  as  he  openly  avowed,  to  cause  pain 
to  his  father  and  defeat  his  hopes.  He  yielded  to  the 
king's  persuasions,  so  far  that  he  allowed  the  nuptial 
ceremonies  between  himself  and  Leonora  to  be  per- 
formed, but  he  refused  to  give  the  young  bride  the 
kiss  of  peace,  or  conduct  her  back  to  the  palace,  and 
leaving  the  church,  withdrew  to  a  neighboring  town, 
to  the  great  sorrow  and  indignation  of  the  royal  fam- 
ily, who  remained  assembled,  anxiously  waiting  his 
return.  By  the  formal  renunciation  of  the  crown 
prince  in  Tarragona  this  same  year,  Alfonso,  his  next 
brother,  became  heir  to  the  throne.  It  was  decreed, 
however,  that  Leonora  should  yet  be  Q,ueen  of  Ara- 
gon,  and,  though  in  1328,  she  returned  to  Castile  a 
maid,  and  a  divorced  wife,  she  went  again  to  Aragon 
in  the  following  year,  to  become  the  second  wife  of 
Alfonso.  During  her  short  residence  in  Castile,  Leo- 
nora had  been  promised  to  the  infante  Pedro  of  Ara- 
gon, but  she  preferred  a  king,  though  that  king  was 
a  widower  with  children,  to  a  prince  who  had  no  chance 
of  ever  wearing  a  crown,  and  accepted  Alfonso.  This 
second  marriage  was  the  cause  of  bitter  animosities, 
and  great  disturbances  in  the  royal  family,  for  Leonora 
having,  like  too  many  step-mothers,  conceived  for  her 
step-son  Pedro,  an  aversion,  doubtless  originating  from 
a  jealousy  of  his  right  to  the  succession,  to  the  exclu- 


LEONORA.  113 

sion  of  her  own  children,  used  all  her  influence  with 
the  king  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  latter,  greatly 
to  the  detriment  of  those  of  the  crown-prince.  Young 
Pedro  soon  felt  the  effects  of  the  cold  atmosphere  which 
so  often  surrounds  a  step-mother,  and  from  his  boy- 
hood upwards,  repaid  her  hatred  with  usury.  Taking 
advantage  of  the  enfeebled  state  of  the  sovereign's 
health  who,  from  the  time  of  his  second  marriage  had 
been  afflicted  with  the  dropsy,  Leonora  obtained  from 
him  the  most  extravagant  grants  to  her  own  sons 
Among  these  was  the  rich  Lordship  of  Tortosa,  be- 
sides many  strongly  fortified  towns  and  fortresses  in 
Valencia,  on  the  borders  of  Castile,  of  the  utmost 
importance  in  time  of  war.  Many  of  the  members 
of  the  council  expressed  decided  disapprobation  of 
donations,  which  not  only  impoverished  the  crown, 
but  threatened  to  prove  a  fertile  source  of  evils.  The 
city  of  Valencia,  in  particular,  was  violent  in  its  oppo- 
sition. Don  Pedro  who,  though  but  thirteen,  seemed 
perfectly  cognizant  of  the  degree  in  which  his  interests 
were  affected  by  the  dismemberment  of  his  inheritance, 
obstinately  refused  to  give  to  these  measures  the  sanc- 
tion which  was  required  from  him  as  crown  prince, 
and  excited  the  chief  lords  to  such  a  degree,  that 
they  addressed  a  respectful  but  energetic  remonstrance 
to  the  king  in  presence  of  the  queen  and  court.  The 
eloquence  of  the  speaker  had  the  desired  effect  on 
the  king,  who,  convinced  of  the  error  he  had  commit- 
ted, immediately  revoked  the  donations.  It  had  been 
well  had  he  not  been  so  ungallant  as  to  add  that,  all 


114  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

blame  was  to  attach  to  the  queen.  The  latter,  irrita- 
ted by  what  she  deemed  pusilanimity,  expressed  her 
surprise  and  anger  in  no  measured  terms,  saying  that, 
had  the  seditious  and  insolent  language  of  the  nobles 
been  addressed  to  her  brother,  the  king  of  Castile,  it 
would  have  been  punished  with  death.  The  king, 
with  moderation  and  prudence,  replied  that  his  peo- 
ple enjoyed  more  freedom  than  the  Castilians,  and 
that  they  loved  and  respected  him  as  their  liege  lord 
and  he  held  them  in  the  light  of  good  and  true  vassals, 
friends  and  comrades.  Leonora,  baffled  in  her  endeav- 
ors, sought  to  wreak  her  vengeance  on  those  whom 
she  suspected  of  being  inimical  to  her  plans,  and  at 
tached  to  the  interests  of  the  crown  prince.  These 
were  first  expelled  from  the  court,  and  then  sum- 
moned to  answer  the  charges  she  caused  to  be  brought 
against  them.  Two  of  the  accused,  aware  of  the  mal- 
ice that  suggested  these  proceedings,  refused  to  appear, 
but  the  secretary,  Concut,  imprudently  confiding  in 
his  innocence,  unhesitatingly  presented  himself  to  the 
king,  who,  though  he  lacked  firmness  to  resist  the  will 
of  Leonora,  could  not  forbear  cautioning  his  old  ser- 
vant, advising,  nay,  ordering  him  to  retire  and  pro- 
vide for  his  safety,  as  the  queen  was  bent  on  effecting 
his  ruin.  But  Concut  refused  to  fly,  saying  that  he 
had  ever  served  the  king  loyally  and  to  the  best  of 
his  ability,  and  therefore  could  have  no  cause  to  fear. 
He  was  siezed  in  Teruel  on  the  following  day,  put  to 
the  question,  drawn,  hung  and  proclaimed  a  traitor. 
The  motive  assigned  for  this  barbarous  execution 


LEONORA.  115 

yfti  ..v^f.:. 

was,  that  Concut  was  convicted  of  having  adminis- 
tered a  drug  to  the  queen,  with  the  design  of  inca- 
pacitating her  to  bear  children.  The  accusation  was 
not  only  utterly  false,  but  its  improbability  was  the 
more  apparent  from  the  circumstance  of  the  queen's 
being  already  the  mother  of  two  boys.  The  adherents 
of  the  crown  prince  now  felt  justified  in  entertaining 
fears,  not  only  for  their  own  safety,  but  also  for  his, 
Leonora  having  persuaded  the  king  to  remove  the  tutor 
and  attendants  of  young  Pedro,  and  replaced  them  with 
creatures  of  her  own.  Don  Pedro  de  Luna,  Arch- 
bishop of  Saragossa,  in  whose  palace  and  under  whose 
care  the  prince  had  been  left  ever  since  the  expe- 
dition to  Sardinia,  in  which  Alfonso  had  been  accom 
panied  by  his  first  wife,  formed  a  plan,  with  other  me* 
of  note,  to  remove  him  to  the  mountain  fortress  oi 
lacca,  on  the  frontiers  of  France,  in  which  country  he 
could,  in  case  of  an  emergency,  take  refuge.  The 
flight  of  the  prince  convinced  the  king  of  the  danger  of 
the  projected  innovations,  and  he  issued  orders  that  no 
change  should  take  place  in  the  prince's  household) 
and  Pedro  returned  to  his  old  quarters.  The  illness  of 
Alfonso  making  rapid  progress,  young  Pedro,  with  a 
steadiness  of  purpose  and  zeal  far  beyond  his  years,  ap- 
plied himself  to  the  studies  that  were  most  fitted  to 
prepare  him  for  the  post  it  was  evident  he  was  ere  long 
to  fill,  and  was  soon  initiated  in  the  cares  and  toils  of 
government.  The  powers  of  dissimilation,  the  perse- 
vering, determined  spirit,  the  self-command,  with  which 
this  boy  curbed  and  concealed  his  naturally  violent 


116  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

temper,  and  carried  out  his  purposes,  is  truly  sur- 
prising. For  the  space  of  three  years  the  demon  of 
domestic  discord  continued  to  reign  in  the  royal  pal- 
ace, embittering  the  last  days  of  the  weak  sovereign, 
who,  however,  mindful  of  the  safety  of  her  whom  he 
so  dotingly  loved,  in  his  dying  moments,  laid  his  com- 
mands on  Leonora  that  she  should  leave  him  and 
provide  against  the  effects  of  the  enmity  of  his  suc- 
cessor, by  a  prompt  departure  from  court.  Don  Alfonso 
died  in  1338,  leaving  the  memory  of  a  kind  and  ami- 
able prince. 

The  first  act  of  Pedro  on  his  advent  to  the  throne 
was  to  order  the  pursuit  and  arrest  of  his  step-mother. 
Leonora,  conscious  of  having  incurred  the  prince's 
hatred,  had  left  the  bed-side  of  her  expiring  husband 
a  few  hours  previous  to  his  death,  and,  goaded  hy  her 
fears,  puting  no  trust  in  the  strongholds  and  castles  of 
her  sons,  though  she  had  taken  the  precaution  to  have 
them  well  fortified,  fled  with  all  the  celerity  in  her 
power  towards  Castile.  Though  Don  Pedro  had  caused 
many  of  the  passes  to  be  closed  against  her,  the  inde- 
fatigable Leonora  contrived  at  length  to  reach  Castile, 
attended  by  the  noble  and  loyal  Don  Pedro  de  Exerica, 
though  forced  to  leave  behind  her  the  riches  she  had 
brought  away  from  the  palace,  of  which  the  partizans 
of  the  new  king  took  care  to  relieve  her  on  the  road. 
But  the  precipitancy  of  her  flight  did  not  prevent, 
Leonora  from  seeking  to  conciliate  her  foe,  for  whom 
she  left  a  long,  submissive  and  affectionate  message 
expressive  of  a  confident  reliance  on  his  justice  and 


LEONORE.  117 

affection  she  was  far  from  feeling.  The  king,  seeing 
his  intended  victim  had  escaped,  returned  an  answer, 
couched  in  respectful,  but  ambiguous  terms.  The 
ceremonies  of  the  late  king's  funeral  were  followed 
by  those  of  the  new  sovereign's  coronation,  which  were 
performed  with  the  most  extravagant  pomp  and  muni, 
ficent  hospitality,  the  table  in  the  royal  palace  of  the 
Aljaferia  being  spread  for  the  entertainment  of  ten  thou- 
sand guests.  But  amid  the  rejoicings  which  hailed  his 
advent  to  the  throne,  the  revengeful  Pedro  forgot  not 
the  past,  and  was  already  planning  measures  to  deprive 
his  half-brothers  of  the  inheritance  left  them  by  their 
father.  But  the  vigilant  Leonora,  who,  probably,  was 
well  acquainted  with  the  temper  of  her  step-son,  and 
anticipated  these  attempts,  persuaded  her  brother  Alfon- 
so to  send  an  embassy  to  Pedro,  requesting  him  to  con- 
firm the  donations  made  to  his  sons  by  the  late  king. 
The  crafty  Pedro,  who  was  fully  resolved  to  grant 
nothing,  replied,  notwithstanding,  in  terms  of  great 
courtesy  to  the  king  of  Castile,  and  of  great  regard 
for  Leonora  and  her  sons,  the  substance  of  his  answer 
being  that  the  testament  could  not  be  opened  in  con- 
sequence of  the  absence  of  some  of  the  executors,  nor 
were  the  donations  legal  or  to  be  exacted  as  a  right, 
adding,  however,  that  he  neither  meant  nor  desired 
any  wrong  to  the  dowager  queen  or  her  sons.  The 
intentions  of  Pedro  were  so  obvious  that  the  king  of 
Castile  would  have  shown  some  resentment,  had  not 
his  own  domestic  divisions  prevented  his  taking  any 
active  measures  against  a  foreign  foe.  Pedro,  on  his 


118  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

side,  aware  that  he  was  secure  against  any  attack 
from  Castile,  gave  the  reins  to  his  hatred,  sequestrat- 
ing the  estates  of  Pedro  de  Exerica  and  even  those  of 
Leonora  herself.  Proceedings  were  instituted  against 
the  queen's  friends  and  adherents,  under  pretence  that 
they  had  not  presented  themselves  to  take  the  oath  at 
his  coronation,  they  in  turn  alleging,  that  it  had  been 
administered  in  terms  that  allowed  of  a  dangerous 
interpretation  against  the  queen  and  others.  Matters 
soon  assumed  a  threatening  aspect,  the  arraigned 
parties  resorting  to  arms  to  protect  themselves  against 
the  rapacity  of  Don  Pedro,  who,  though  occupied  with 
the  ceremonies  of  his  betrothal,  found  time  to  pursue 
his  plans  of  revengeful  spoliation.  But  the  fear  of  a 
foreign  invasion  accomplished  what  even  the  authority 
of  the  pope  had  been  unable  to  effect,  and  the  sover- 
eigns of  Aragon  and  Castile,  laying  aside  their  dis- 
putes, for  a  time,  united  to  oppose  the  powerful  army  of 
the  Moors,  which,  under  the  command  of  Abulmelek,  son 
of  Alboazer,  king  of  Morocco,  had  passed  the  straits, 
in  June,  1383,  and  possessed  themselves  of  Algezira 
and  Gibraltar.  Don  Pedro,  with  prudence  and  bravery 
far  beyond  his  years,  which  scarcely  numbered  nine- 
teen, took  prompt  and  efficacious  measures  for  the  de- 
fence of  his  dominions.  A  treaty  was  concluded 
with  Castile,  in  which  it  was  agreed  that  the  incomes 
of  her  estates  and  the  revenues  of  the  towns  should  be 
paid  to  Leonora,  but  that  they  should  remain  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  King  Pedro  ;  that  the  infantes  should 
be  put  in  possession  of  their  inheritance ;  that  Don 


LEONORA.  119 

Pedro  de  Exerica  should  have  his  estates  restored  to 
him ;  and  that,  to  make  the  union  between  the  members 
of  the  royal  family  sincere  and  lasting,  the  sister  of 
Don  Pedro  de  Exerica  should  marry  the  infante  Don 
Ramon  Berengner.  Where  no  feelings  of  good  will 
existed  on  either  side,  and  peace  had  been  a  measure 
of  temporary  necessity  rather  than  of  inclination,  it 
was  merely  of  the  nature  of  a  truce,  and  lasted  only  so 
long  as  the  convenience  of  the  parties  required.  The 
Moors  having  been  completely  worsted,  the  king  of  Ar- 
agon  turned  his  attention  to  the  destruction  of  his 
brother-in-law,  James,  king  of  Mallorca,  whom,  under 
the  most  futile  pretexts,  he  persecuted  until  he  not  only 
deprived  him  of  his  petty  sovereignty,  which  was 
added  to  the  dominions  of  Aragon,  but  also  of  his  life, 
that  hapless  monarch,  who  was  in  fact  more  sinned 
against  than  sinning,  being  killed  in  battle  while 
endeavoring  to  recover  his  crown.  The  impetuous, 
yet  dissembling  and  hypocritical  Pedro,  was  subse- 
quently too  much  engaged  in  civil  wars  in  Aragon 
and  disturbances  in  Sardinia  to  quarrel  with  his  neigh- 
bor of  Castile,  but  the  fire,  though  smothered  for  the 
time,  was  not  extinct,  and  in  1356  a  bloody  war  broke 
out  between  the  two  sovereigns,  which,  for  a  period  of 
ten  years,  devastated  their  respective  kingdoms.  Pedro, 
who  had  succeeded  his  father  Alfonso  on  the  throne  of 
Castile,  already  gave  indications  of  a  temper  equaling, 
if  not  exceeding  in  ferocity  that  of  his  namesake  of 
Aragon,  and  stained  the  commencement  of  his 
reign  by  allowing  the  cold-blooded  murder  of  a  woman. 


120  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAFN. 

The  king  of  Aragon  had  extended  his  protection  to 
Don  Enrique  de  Trastamara  and  Don  Fadrique,  grand- 
master of  Santiago,  both  half-brothers  of  the  Castilian 
monarch,  and  thereby  irritated  the  latter  exceedingly. 
The  old  feud  between  Dona  Leonora  and  her  step-son 
was  revived  by  the  continual  endeavors  made  by  him 
to  deprive  her  and  her  sons  of  their  domains  in  Ara- 
gon. The  unbounded  ambition  of  Leonora  was  as  inju- 
rious to  her  interests  in  her  native  Castile,  as  it  had 
been  in  her  husband's  kingdom,  and  ended  most  fatally. 
Though  her  efforts  to  secure  the  crown  to  her  own 
sons  had  proved  abortive,  and  caused  her  to  be  ex- 
iled from  Aragon,  her  failure  proved  no  lesson  to 
teach  her  to  curb  her  inordinate  love  of  sway,  and  she 
renewed  her  intrigues  in  Castile  against  her  own 
nephew,  Pedro,  and  continually  excited  her  sons,  now 
against  the  one  monarch,  now  against  the  other.  In 
1354  Leonora  took  an  active  part  against  the  young 
king  of  Castile,  whom  she  proclaimed  to  be  insane,  and 
in  a  state  requiring  a  guardian.  So  effectually  did  she 
take  her  measures,  that  it  was  principally  through  her 
that  the  government  of  Castile  fell  almost  entirely 
into  the  hands  of  her  son  Ferdinand.  Leonora  was 
frequently  known  to  say  that  she  would  lose  her  soul 
but  that  her  son  should  wear  a  crown.  To  strengthen 
his  party,  in  1354,  Leonora  persuaded  her  son  to  marry 
Maria,  daughter  of  Don  Pedro,  crown  prince  of  Portu- 
gal, by  his  wife  Constanza  Manuel.  Ferdinand  was 
slain  in  1363,  while  resisting  the  orders  of  Pedro,  king 
of  Aragon,  who  had  sent  to  imprison  him,  though 


DO^A    MARIA     DE    NAVARRE,     ETC.  121 

Ferdinand  had  come  expressly,  and  by  the  king's  invi- 
tation, to  dine  in  Castellan  with  that  sovereign. 

The  events  of  the  life  of  Leonora,  from  the  time  of 
the  accession  of  her  nephew  Pedro  to  the  crown  of 
Castile,  are  so  much  interwoven  with  those  of  his  tur- 
bulent and  sanguinary  reign,  that  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  separate  them,  and  I  must  refer  the  reader  for 
a  continuation  of  her  life  to  the  annals  of  Blanche  of 
Borbon,  wife  of  Pedro  of  Castile. 


DONA   MARIA  DE  NAVARRE. 
1337. 

DONA   LEONORA  OF   PORTUGAL. 

1  348. 
DONA   LEONORA   OF   SICILY. 

1349. 
DONA   SIBILA   DE    FORCIA. 

1381. 

B.EIGN    OF    PEDRO    IV.    (OF    THE    DAGGER.)* 

THE  first  of  Pedro  the  Fourth's  four   wives  was 
Maria,   youngest  daughter  of  Don  Philip  and  Dona 

*  Don  Pedro  derived  this  surname  from  the  following  incident. 
Having,  at  the  battle  of  Epila,  in  1348,  compelled  the  rebel  barons 


122  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

Juana,  sovereigns  of  Navarre.  Juana,  the  eldest  of 
the  infantas  of  Navarre,  had,  during  the  lifetime  of 
his  father,  been  betrothed  to  Pedro,  but  the  prince 
giving  the  preference  to  her  sister,  Maria,  that  princess 
was  betrothed  to  him  in  1337,  the  first  year  of  his 
reign,  at  which  time  she  was  also  acknowledged,  by 
her  parents,  heiress  to  the  crown  of  Navarre  (to  the 
exclusion  of  her  eldest  sister,)  in  case  they  should 
have  no  male  heirs.  This  recognition  of  the  infanta 
Maria  was  the  more  singular,  inasmuch  as  she  had 
three  brothers.  In  October  of  the  same,  the  princess, 
having  attained  her  twelfth  year,  the  nuptials  were 
celebrated.  During  the  life  of  this  queen,  Pedro 
directed  his  arms  against  James,  king  of  Mallorca, 
though  that  prince  was  married  to  Constance,  infanta 
of  Aragon  and  sister  of  Pedro,  but  the  restless  spirit 
and  inordinate  ambition  of  the  latter,  impelled  him  to 
attack  even  those  who  might  have  justly  felt  secured 
by  their  close  connection  with  himself  from  any 
aggression  on  his  part.  Pedro,  who  was  never  at  a 
loss  for  specious  pretexts  to  clothe  his  arbitrary  and 

to  submit  to  his  authority,  they,  in  an  assembly  of  the  states,  made 
a  formal  renunciation  of  the  absurd  right  claimed  by  "  La  Union," 
of  resorting  to  arms  on  any  real  or  fancied  encroachment  of  their 
privileges.  The  king  on  his  part,  solemnly  confirmed  the  ancient 
national  privileges,  but,  filled  with  resentment  at  the  sight  of  the 
instrument  that  contained  the  two  obnoxious  ordinances  of  La 
Union,  he  cut  it  in  pieces  with  his  dagger  and,  in  so  doing,  wound- 
ed his  hand.  Suffering  the  blood  to  fall  on  the  mutilated  deed, 
"the  blood  of  a  king,"  he  exclaimed,  "  may  well  be  shed  to  efface  a 
law  that  has  occasioned  the  effusion  of  so  much  blood." 


DoSfA    MARIA    DE    NAVARRE,    ETC.  123 

iniquitous  proceedings,  justified  his  unparalleled  usurp- 
ation by  the  most  futile  and  unfounded  act  nsations, 
and  the  hapless  James,  finding  his  nearest  and  u  Barest, 
even  his  wife,*  turn  from  him,  abandoned  by  his  sub- 
jects, hunted  from  place  to  place  by  his  untiring 
brother-in-law,  after  vainly  appealing  to  the  pope  and 
to  the  king  of  France,  and  making  the  most  desperate 
attempts  to  recover  his  crown,  was  finally  compelled 
to  resign  it  to  his  powerful  and  insatiable  foe. 

The  reign  of  Maria  is  also  famous  for  the  attempt 
made  by  Pedro  to  ensure  the  succession  of  the  crown 
to  his  daughter  Constance.  The  queen  having,  up  to 
the  year  1347,  given  birth  to  no  son,  the  king,  hope- 
less of  leaving  male  heirs  to  succeed  him,  caused  the 
infanta  Constance  to  be  publicly  acknowledged  and 
sworn  as  his  heiress,  to  the  exclusion  of  his  brother 
James.  The  latter,  finding  his  respectful  remonstran- 
ces without  ^effect,  immediately  repaired  to  Saragossa, 
where  he  was  joined  by  many  of  the  nobles,  who, 

*  Constance  seems  to  have  led  an  unhappy  life  with  her  hus- 
band of  whom  she  complained  frequently  to  her  brother,  and 
whom  she  finally  accused  of  plotting  the  murder  of  the  king  of 
Aragon.  This  accusation  was  undoubtedly  false,  and  suggested  by 
a  wish  to  revenge  some  real  or  fancied  wrongs  inflicted  on  herself. 
Constance  seems  to  have  been  one  of  those  weak  minds,  possess- 
ing energy  and  resolution  neither  for  good  nor  evil,  perpetually 
doing  some  rash  act,  of  which  they  repent  as  soon  as  committed. 
Having  largely  contributed  to  the  ruin  of  her  husband,  she  subse- 
quently entreated,  earnestly  and  incessantly,  to  be  allowed  to  join 
him  when  a  discrowned  fugitive,  though  her  brother  offered  her 
the  Castle  of  Montblanc  as  a  residence,  and  an  income  of  3,000 
livres  yearly,  to  induce  her  to  remain  with  him. 


124  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

opposed  to  females  succeeding  to  the  throne,  formed 
that  leapae  entitled  "  La  Union,"  which  so  frequently 
proved  a  fertile  source  of  trouble,  disquiet  and  danger 
to  the  sovereigns  of  Aragon.  During  the  civil  commo- 
tions that  ensued  in  this  same  year,  Dona  Maria  was 
delivered  of  a  son,  but  the  joy  occasioned  by  his  birth 
soon  gave  way  to  grief,  as  he  survived  it  but  a  few 
hours,  and  was  within  five  days  followed  to  his  grave 
by  his  mother.  Dona  Maria  was  an  amiablo  and  pious 
queen,  but  nothing  of  any  note  is  recorded  of  her.  She 
gave  birth  to  three  daughters,  Constance,  Juana,  and 
Maria,  whom  she  left  successive  heiresses  of  her  right 
to  the  crown  of  Navarre. 

On  the  death  of  Maria,  the  king,  baffled  in  his 
attempt  to  secure  the  succession  to  his  daughter,  and 
his  desire  for  male  heirs  being  stimulated  by  his  hatred 
to  his  brother  James,  immediately  sent  ambassadors  to 
Alfonso  and  Beatrix,  the  sovereigns  of  Portugal, 
soliciting  the  hand  of  their  daughter  Leonora.  The 
king  of  Castile,  who  had  designed  this  princess  for  his 
nephew,  Fernando,  vainly  sought  to  prevent  her  being 
given  to  the  king  of  Aragon,  but  the  superior  rank  of 
the  latter  caused  him  to  be  chosen  in  preference  to  his 
half-brother,  and,  notwithstanding  some  slight  alterca 
tions  as  to  the  amount  of  dower  to  be  given  to  the  bride, 
the  marriage  was  concluded  this  same  year.  The 
nuptials  were  celebrated  at  Barcelona  with  little  pomp 
and  not  under  the  happiest  auspices,  the  king  being 
engaged  in  broils  with  the  Union,  the  head  of  which, 
the  infante  James,  expired  on  the  day  of  the  arrival  of 


DOSfA  MARIA  DE   JfAVARRE.  125 

the  bride,  after  a  sudden  and  violent  sickness,  the  sin- 
gular nature  of  which,  and  its  fatal  termination, 
induced  strong  suspicions  of  his  having  been  poisoned 
by  his  brother,  the  king.  This,  the  second  queen  of  Don 
Pedro,  was  tall  and  graceful  in  person,  of  beautiful 
features  and  amiable  manners,  but  she  survived  her 
marriage  but  a  few  short  months,  dying  of  the  plague 
that  desolated  Europe  in  1368.*  During  the  short 
reign  of  this  queen,  the  civil  war  reached  its  climax. 
An  incident  occurred  during  her  stay  at  Valencia, 
which  to  the  proud  spirit  of  the  Portuguese  princess, 
must  have  been  exceedingly  disagreeable.  The  king, 
having  set  out  for  Teruel,  was  compelled,  by  the  in- 
surgents, to  alter  his  course  and  proceed  to  Valencia, 
the  very  focus  of  the  insurrection.  The  king's  entrance 
into  that  town  was  hailed  with  rapturous  acclamations, 
and  made  the  occasion  of  great  rejoicings  by  its  in- 
habitants, the  partisans  of  the  Union  being  delighted 
with  having  the  king  in  their  power,  and  determined 
to  retain  him  until  he  should  have  fulfilled  the  hard 
conditions  extorted  from  him  by  the  league.  Yet  the 
real  subjection  in  which  he  was  held  was  covered  by  a 
great  show  of  veneration  and  respect  for  his  majesty's 
person.  The  queen,  mak'ng  her  entrance  some  days 
after,  was  welcomed  with  greater  parade  than  had 
been  made  for  any  of  her  predecessors  on  the  throne. 
It  happened  that,  one  evening  during  the  festivi- 

•  In  the  history  of  Don  Pedro,  written  by  himself,  it  is  stated 
that  three  hundred  persons,  on  the  average,  died  daily  of  the 
plague,  in  Aragon,  during  October  of  the  year  1348. 


126  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

ties,  one  of  the  numerous  bands  of  dancers  that 
thronged  the  streets  having  found  their  way  up  to  the 
royal  apartments,  in  their  enthusiasm  and  delight, 
insisted  on  the  king  and  queen  joining  the  dance,  and 
matters  had  reached  so  dangerous  a  crisis,  that  the 
sovereigns  deemed  it  advisable  to  gratify  the  riotous 
mob  by  complying  with  this  insolent  request.  The 
insult  must  have  been  intolerable  to  the  haughty 
and  punctilious  spirit  of  a  Portuguese  bride,  but  the 
king  who  was  an  adept  in  the  art  of  dissembling  showed 
no  outward  signs  of  the  rage  that  filled  his  heart,  and 
which  he  subsequently  vented  on  the  heads  of  the 
chief  offenders.*  Had  his  conscience  been  susceptible 
of  remorse,  he  would  have  felt  this  mortification  a  just 
retribution  for  the  heartlessness  with  which  he  had 
celebrated  with  similar  festivities,  in  Perpignan,  the 
downfall  of  his  hapless  brother-in-law,  the  king  of 
Mallorca.  Leonora  died  in  Exerica,  October,  1348. 

Leonora,  daughter  of  Pedro  and  Isabel,  reigning 
sovereigns  of  Sicily,  became,  in  1349,  the  third  wife  of 
Don  Pedro,  and  more  fortunate  than  her  predecessors, 
gratified  his  anxious  desire  of  a  son  by  giving  birth  on 
the  27th  of  December,  1351,  to  a  prince  who  was  chris- 
tened Juan  Manuel,  and  succeeded  his  father  on  the 

*  Having  subsequently  forcibly  entered  Valencia  at  the  head  of 
an  array,  Don  Pedro  wreaked  his  vengeance  on  the  chief  rebels, 
and  was  with  difficulty  dissuaded  from  levelling  the  city  with  the 
ground  and  sowing  its  site  with  salt,  so  deeply  had  the  insults 
there  offered  to  him  rankled  in  his  heart  The  persuasions  of  his 
nobles  at  length  prevailed,  and  he  consented  to  spare  this  beauti- 
ful city. 


DOSfA    MARIA    DE    NAVARRE,    ETC.  127 

throne.     Leonora  subsequently  gave  birth  to  another 
son,  Martin,  who  succeeded  his  elder  brother.     During 
the  reign  of  this  queen,  the  conquest  of  Mallorca  was 
finally  accomplished,  the  dethroned  king  perishing  on 
the  25th  of  October,  1349,  in  the  last  battle  he  adven- 
tured for  the  recovery  of  his  dominions  from  his  grasp- 
ing relative.     The  head  of  the  ill-starred  monarch  was 
severed  from  the  body,  and  his  son,  who  was  wounded 
in   the  engagement,  taken  prisoner  and  conveyed  to 
Barcelona,  where  he  was  kept  some  time.     Leonora 
died  in   1374.     Of  this  queen  no  particular  trait  of 
goodness  is  recorded,  and  her  memory  is  stained  by 
the  malignity  with  which,  in  1364,  she  persecuted  her 
husband's  wisest  counsellor,  and  tried  and  oldest  friend, 
Don  Bernardo  de  Cabrera.     Having  united  with  the 
enemies    of  this    consummate  politician  and    experi- 
enced pilot,  who  through  every   storm  had   skilfully 
guided  the  battered  bark  of  his  sovereign's  fortunes, 
and  in  every  crisis  of  his  fate  had  proved  his  guardian 
angel,  Leonora  ruthlessly  pursued  the  veteran,  who, 
by   some  contradiction  or  opposition  to  her  will,  had 
incurred  her  animosity.     Without  proofs,  on  the  most 
puerile  accusations,  she  gave  orders  to  her  son  the  Prince 
of  Grirona,  to  cause  Don  Bernardo  to  be  beheaded,  pre- 
viously putting  him  to  the  torture.     The  prince,  with- 
out  the  slightest  hesitation  or  feeling  of  commiseration 
for  the  venerable  statesman    who  had  protected  his 
father's  youthful  inexperience,  and  been  his  own  tutor 
from  his  earliest  years,  caused  the  inhuman  mandate 
to  be  executed,  without  allowing  even  the  mockery  of 


128  THE    QUEEN8    OF    SPAIN. 

a  trial  to  this,  one  of  Spain's  wealthiest  and  most  in- 
fluential nobles.  Of  Don  Bernardo,  it  may  be  said, 
that  he  did  many  good  deeds  without  the  co-operation 
of  the  king,  while  the  latter  never  did  anything  wor- 
thy of  note  without  the  advice  and  participation  of 
this  great  noble.  The  grandson  of  Don  Bernardo  was 
eight  years  after  reinstated  in  the  confiscated  estates 
and  honors  of  his  family,  the  king  making  the  tardy 
acknowledgment  that,  through  his  evil  advisers,  he 
had  been  too  hasty  and  severe  towards  his  illustrious 
ancestor. 

Don  Pedro,  in  his  old  age,  received  an  embassy  from 
Joana  I.,  Queen  of  Naples,  who,  tormented  by  her  own 
subjects,  and  desirous  of  securing  the  protection  of  so 
powerful  a  monarch,  offered,  if  either  that  sovereign 
or  his  son  would  marry  her,  to  annex  her  dominions 
to  those  of  the  crown  of  Aragon.  But  this  donation 
would  have  entailed  too  many  disputes,  and  the  lady, 
already  the  widow  of  three  husbands,  was  no  longer 
of  an  age  to  please  a  sovereign  who,  though  himself 
advanced  in  life,  still  retained  the  passions  of  youth. 
Another  reason  concurred  to  induce  Don  Pedro  to  look 
with  indifference  on  the  addition  of  another  crown, — his 
heart  was  already  prepossessed  in  favor  of  Dona  Sibila 
Forcia,  the  charming  daughter  of  a  private  gentleman 
of  Ampurdan,  and  the  widow  of  Don  Artal  de  Foges. 
The  coronation  of  this  queen  was  performed  with  un- 
wonted pomp  in  Saragossa,  in  1381,  The  king  who 
seems  to  have  strangely  forgotten  the  bitter  experience 
of  his  early  youth,  allowed  his  young  wife  the  same 


DOSfA    MARIA    DE    NAVARRE,    ETC.  129 

injudicious  authority,  that,  vested  in  his  own  mother-in- 
law's  hands,  had,  during  his  father's  reign,  proved  so 
injurious  to  the  state,  and  hateful  to  himself.  Nor 
did  Dona  Sibila  fail  to  follow  the  example  of  Lenora  of 
Castile,  and  her  conduct  towards  the  offspring  of  her 
predecessors  was  impolitic  in  the  highest  degree.  Don 
Juan,  the  crown  prince,  had  formed  an  attachment  for 
Dona  Violante,  daughter  of  Robert,  Duke  of  Bar,  and 
of  Maria,  princess  of  the  blood  royal  of  France,  and 
opposed  his  father's  wishes  that  he  should  marry  Maria 
the  young  Q,ueen  of  Sicily.  This  refusal  on  the  part 
of  the  prince  led  to  great  disunion  between  the 
father  and  son,  the  queen  doing  her  utmost  to  render 
the  breach  still  wider.  Juan  retired  from  court  to  the 
estates  of  the  Count  of  Ampurias,  who  had  married  his 
sister,  and  there,  without  obtaining  the  king's  previous 
sanction,  was  privately  married  to  the  lady  of  his  love, 
in  presence  of  his  own  brother,  Don  Martin,  his  sister 
Dona  Juana,  Countess  of  Ampurias,  and  the  count  her 
husband,  the  latter  volunteering  to  expose  himself  to 
every  loss  for  the  sake  of  obliging  the  prince.  This 
act  of  friendship  had  wellnigh  cost  the  count  dear, 
as  the  old  king,  enraged  at  his  having  encouraged  Don 
Juan  in  his  disobedience,  furiously  invaded  the  count's 
dominions.  As  for  the  prince,  whom  his  father 
threatened  to  disinherit,  and  had  deprived  of  all  his 
privileges,  he  appealed  against  the  king  himself  to 
the  Justicia  of  Aragon,*  and  that  magistrate,  using 

*  Justice. — This  magistrate  whose  authority  was  supreme,  was 
empowered  by  the  constitution  of  Aragon  to  restrain  the  authority 
6* 


130  THE    QUEENS    OF    3PATN. 

the  authority  delegated  to  him  by  the  laws  of  the 
realm,  gave  sentence  against  the  monarch,  and  decreed 
that  the  prince  should  be  reinstated  in  his  offices.  Juan, 
however,  was  too  well  acquainted  with  his  father's 
temper  to  trust  himself  in  his  power,  and  lived  retired. 
Don  Pedro  who  could  not  even  in  old  age  live  in  peace, 
having  now  neither  foreign  nor  domestic  foes  with  whom 
to  quarrel,  attacked  the  church,  and  commenced  a 
litigation  with  the  Archbishop  of  Tarragona,  who  re- 
sisted the  monarch's  attempts  to  seize  on  the  govern- 
ment and  sovereignty  of  that  city,  which  had  hitherto 
been  under  the  dominion  of  the  archbishops  of  the 
see.  Don  Pedro  having  sent  troops  to  enforce  his  pre- 
tensions, the  prelate  is  said  to  have  sent  him  a  mes- 
sage summoning  him  to  appear  within  sixty  days  at 
the  tribunal  of  God  to  answer  for  this  aggression. 
Tradition  furthermore  adds  that  Sainte  Thecla,  pat- 
roness of  the  church  of  Tarragona,  appeared  to  the 
monarch,  reproached  him  with  his  impiety,  and  struck 
him  a  blow  on  the  face,  from  which  hour  the  king 
sickened  of  the  disease  that  proved  fatal  to  him  on 
the  5th  of  January,  1387.  This  story  does  not 
seem  amiss  in  the  pages  of  Zurita  and  other  old  wri- 
ters, but  in  those  of  a  writer  of  the  18th  century, 
where  we  find  it  gravely  related,  it  causes  some  little 
surprise.  Don  Pedro  was  of  small  stature,"  and  spare 
form.  His  fiery,  indomitable  spirits,  firm  and  decided 
temper,  patience  and  perseverance,  ensured  him  suc- 

of  the  king  himself,  whon  it  exceeded  the  limits  of  the  law,  and  in 
all  doubtful  cases  an  appeal  to  his  tribunal  was  decisive. 


DOSfA    MARIA    DE    NAVARRE,    ETC.  131 

cess  in  almost  all  his  enterprises.  His  fondness  for 
literary  pursuits,  and  especially  for  the  sciences  of  as- 
tronomy and  alchymy,  was  excessive  ;  and  he  was 
equally  distinguished  by  the  attention  he  bestowed  on 
the  civil  and  military  cares  of  government,  and  the  affa- 
bility he  manifested  to  the  lower  orders.  Unfortunate- 
ly Pedro's  good  qualities  were  counterbalanced  by  an 
innate  cruelty,  an  inordinate  and  grasping  ambition, 
and  an  insatiable  thirst  for  vengeance,  vices  that  age 
rather  increased  than  tempered.  If  years  have  no 
effect  in  softening  a  man's  temper,  they  will  have  the 
contrary  one  of  aggravating  it;  so  that,  if,  evil  disposed 
in  his  youth,  he  grows  neither  wiser  nor  better  as  he 
advances  in  life,  he  will  be  a  very  fiend  in  his  old  age. 
The  singular  passion  for  ceremony  of  this  king, 
caused  him  to  be  surnamed  the  Ceremonious.  He 
pushed  this  mania  so  far,  that  he  caused  his  envoys  at 
the  different  courts  of  Europe  to  send  him  minute  ac- 
counts of  the  ceremonies  and  etiquette  used  in  each, 
and  from  these  materials,  compiled  a  book  containing 
the  essence  or  rather  the  quintessence  of  etiquette, 
ordering  this  manual  to  serve  as  a  standard  to  be  used 
in  his  own  court.  His  reign,  which  lasted  51  years 
within  19  days,  was  one  of  the  most  stormy  on  record, 
being  constantly  distracted  with  domestic  broils  or 
foreign  wars.  Some  time  previous  to  the  king's  death, 
Prince  Juan  was  taken  ill,  and  the  disease  proved  of 
so  singular  and  alarming  a  nature,  as  to  baffle  the  efn 
forts  of  the  leeches  to  ascertain  the  cause  or  find  a  cure 
for  it.  Strong  suspicions  attached  to  the  queen  and  her 


132  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

brother,  Don  Bernardo  de  Forcia,  who  were  accused 
of  employing  rnagic  to  acquire  the  extraordinary  influ- 
ence they  possessed  over  the  king  and  cause  the  linger- 
ing illness  and  probable  death  of  the  prince.  Following 
the  example  of  his  father,  Don  Pedro  finding  he  had 
but  five  hours  to  live,  advised  his  wife  to  fly  from  the 
effects  of  her  step-son's  angry  revenge,  and,  like 
Leonora,  Sibila  abandoned  her  dying  husband's  bed- 
side, and  took  to  flight.  Less  fortunate  than  the  Cas- 
tilan  princess,  the  Q,ueen  of  Aragon  had  no  powerful 
brother  on  the  throne  to  assume  her  defence,  and  protect 
her  rights,  and  it  being  apparent  that  the  king  was 
past  recovery,  the  adherents  of  Prince  John  ordered  the 
queen  to  be  pursued  and  brought  back.  The  unfortu- 
nate Sibila  was  thrown  into  prison,  together  with  her 
brother  and  several  of  her  followers.  The  prince, 
though  apprized  of  his  father's  danger,  and  subse- 
quently of  his  death,  was  himself  in  too  precarious  a 
state  to  allow  of  his  being  moved,  Pedro  had  no 
sooner  expired,  than  his  now  friendless  widow  was 
proceeded  against,  as  having  attempted  by  sorcery  the 
life  of  her  step-son,  and  without  regard  for  her  rank, 
or  compassion  for  her  sex  and  forlorn  situation,  was 
even  put  to  the  torture,  together  with  Bernaldo  and 
many  of  his  partisans.  Whether  they  were  thus  in- 
duced to  confess  themselves  guilty,  is  not  known,  but 
all,  with  the  exception  of  Sibila,  her  brother,  and  the 
Count  of  Palas,  were  beheaded.  A  counsellor  was  of- 
fered to  the  queen  dowager  to  defend  her  cause,  but 
she  replying  that  she  would  have  none,  but  would 


DOSfA    VIOL  ANTE.  133 

leave  it  to  the  mercy  and  justice  of  the  king,  the  latter, 
at  the  request  of  the  pope's  legate,  granted  her  a  free 
pardon  and  an  annuity  of  25,000  sueldos.  The 
only  child  of  Sibila,  was  a  daughter,  Isabel,  who  mar- 
ried James,  Count  of  Urgel.  Sibila  de  Forcia  died 
during  the  reign  of  her  step-son,  Don  Martin,  in  1407. 


DONA  VIOLANTE. 

REIGN    OF    DON    JUAN    I. 

DON  JUAN,  being  too  feeble  to  take  upon  him  the 
cares  of  government,  empowered  his  brother,  Don  Mar- 
tin, to  act  for  him,  particularly  in  the  case  of  the  cap- 
tive queen  dowager,  whose  estates  were  seized  and  given 
by  the  new  sovereign  to  his  consort  on  the  very  day  of 
his  father's  death.  Don  Juan  had,  during  his  father's 
life,  been  contracted,  in  1370,  to  Juana  of  France,  aunt 
of  Charles  V.,  and  sister  of  his  father,  King  John  ;  but 
this  princess,  dying  in  Beziers,  on  her  way  to  Aragon, 
the  prince,  as  already  related,  married,  in  1384,  Vio- 
lante,  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Bar.  Juan,  though 
he  partially  recovered  from  his  illness,  never  regained 
his  former  health  and  activity,  and  his  physical  debility, 
probably  inducing  weakness  of  the  mental  faculties,  he 
seemed  to  take  no  interest  in  the  cares  of  state,  but 
left  the  government  almost  entirely  to  the  queen, 
whom  he  loved  passionately.  The  want  of  energy  of  the 
sovereign  was  not,  however,  productive  of  the  ill  effects 


134  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

that  might  have  been  expected,  the  peace  of  his  king- 
dom being,  doubtless,  attributable  to  the  fact  that  the 
neighboring  states,  were  at  the  time  too  much  engaged 
in  their  own  civil  and  foreign  feuds  to  take  advantage 
of  his  inactivity  and  indolence.  The  queen,  who  pos- 
sessed the  joyous  temper  that  characterizes  her  nation, 
attracted  to  the  court  of  Aragon  the  wandering  trou- 
badours of  Provence,  and  the  king  himself  was  so  great 
an  admirer  of  La  Gate  Science,  that  he  instituted 
schools  in  which  it  was  taught,  and  even  sent  an  em- 
bassy to  the  king  of  France,  requesting  he  would  send 
him  experienced  teachers  of  the  art  of  rhyming.  The 
royal  palace  became  the  scene  of  continual  festivities, 
in  which  poetry,  music  and  dancing  entirely  super- 
seded the  grand  and  stately  formalities  of  the  preced- 
ing reign.  The  extravagant  profusion  of  the  court  at 
length  attained  such  a  pitch  as  warranted  the  interfer- 
ence of  the  nobles,  who,  in  the  Cortes  held  in  Monzon, 
demanded  a  reform  in  the  palace,  and  the  exile 
of  Dona  Carroza  de  Villaragut,  an  especial  favorite 
with  both  the  king  and  queen,  whose  excessive 
power  and  insolence  had  given  great  umbrage.  The 
deputies  from  Catalonia  and  Mallorca  were  the  most 
clamorous,  and  many  lords  and  gentlemen  assembled 
before  the  doors,  with  troops  of  armed  followers  to 
back  their  demands,  the  king  having  refused,  with 
threats,  to  allow  of  the  accusation  being  read.  The 
favorite  having  won  many  partisans,  and  the  hope  of 
ingratiating  themselves  with  the  sovereigns  drawing 
others  to  her  side,  a  challenge  was  sent  by  her  party 


DOS?  A    VIOL  ANTE.  135 

to  the  armed  complainants,  and  the  defiance  being 
eagerly  accepted,  the  parliamentary  discussion  was  on 
the  point  of  becoming  a  civil  war.  Matters,  however, 
came  to  a  more  peaceful  conclusion  than  might  have 
been  anticipated  from  the  opening  scenes.  The  king, 
alarmed  at  the  angry  and  determined  aspect  of  his 
chief  barons,  ordered  an  enquiry  to  be  made  as  to  the 
foundations  for  the  complaints,  and  having  been  con- 
vinced they  were  just,  ordered  the  obnoxious  lady  to 
leave  the  palace  immediately,  and  to  abstain  in  future 
from  all  intercourse  with  the  members  of  the  royal 
family,  depriving  her  also  of  all  her  offices  and  privileges. 
Dona  Violante  gave  birth  to  two  sons,  James  and 
Fernando,  who  both  died  in  childhood,  and  to  one 
daughter,  Violante,  who  married  Louis,  Duke  of  Anjou 
and  king  of  Naples.  Don  Juan  had,  when  prince  of 
Aragon,  been  married  to  Martha  de  Armagnac,  and  by 
this  lady,  who  died  shortly  after  her  marriage,  he  had 
a  daughter,  Dona  Juana,  who  married  Mathew,  Count 
of  Foix,  and  subsequently  laid  claim  to  the  crown  of 
Aragon.  The  only  pastime  requiring  exertion  to 
which  Juan  was  addicted  was  that  of  the  chase,  and  his 
death,  which  was  sudden,  took  place  on  19th  of 
May,  1395,  while  enjoying  that  pleasure  on  his  way 
to  Barcelona.  The  king  was  eagerly  pursuing  the 
prey  when  he  fell  from  his  horse,  and  when  raised  by 
his  attendants,  life  was  found  to  be  extinct.  John 
was  forty- four  years  of  age,  and  had  reigned  eight 
years. 

Violante  was  extremely  unwilling  to  surrender  her 


136  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

regal  honors  which  at  the  death  of  her  husband,  be- 
longed to  the  wife  of  his  successor,  Don  Martin,  and 
with  a  view  to  prolonging  their  enjoyment,  asserted 
that  she  was  enciente.  The  council  decided  that  four 
matrons  chosen  from  among  the  noblest  ladies  of  the 
court  should  remain  in  attendance  on  the  queen  day 
and  night  until  her  confinement,  as  the  birth  of  a  post- 
humous child,  had  it  proved  a  son,  would  have 
materially  altered  the  state  of  affairs.  Violante  sub- 
mitted with  a  good  grace  to  the  strict  surveillance  she 
had  no  means  of  evading,  but  on  condition  that  she 
should  in  the  meanwhile  continue  to  reside  in  the  royal 
palace,  and  be  treated  as  the  reigning  queen.  This 
request  was  complied  with,  and  Dona  Maria  de  Luna, 
who  as  wife  of  Don  Martin,  had  been  proclaimed 
queen,  and  taken  up  her  abode  in  the  palace,  was 
lodged  elsewhere.  The  deception  could  not,  however, 
be  long  continued,  and  Violante  was  compelled  to 
cede  the  post  she  had  vainly  attempted  to  retain. 
After  the  accession  of  Martin  and  Maria  we  find  little 
mention  of  Violante,  until  the  interregnum  that 
followed  the  death  of  that  king,  when  Violante  again 
appears,  exerting  herself  to  procure  the  election  of  her 
grandson,  Luis,  Duke  of  Calabria,  to  the  vacant  throne 
of  Aragon.  In  behalf  of  this  prince,  Violante  sent 
ambassadors  to  lay  his  claim  before  the  assembled 
electors.  Not  content  with  this,  Violante  came  in 
person  to  urge  the  Cortes  in  his  favor,  and  the  king 
of  France,  her  cousin,  gave  her  troops  under  the  com- 
mand of  G-odfrey  of  Busicanda.  But  all  her  efforts 


DOHA  MARIA  DE  LUNA.  137 

proved  in  vain,  the  electors  deciding  in  favor  of  Ferdi- 
nand of  Castile.  No  record  exists  of  the  subsequent 
life  or  of  the  date  of  the  death  of  Violante. 


MARIA  DE  LUNA. 

395. 
DONA  MARGARITA  DE  PRADBS. 

REIGN    OF    DON    MARTIN. 

THE  indolent  and  sickly  Juan  was  succeeded  by  his 
brave  and  energetic  brother,  Don  Martin,  then  thirty- 
two  years  of  age.  The  new  king  was,  at  the  time  of 
his  brother's  death,  in  Sicily,  whither  he  had  gone  to 
quell  the  rebellion,  and  establish  on  the  throne  its  right- 
ful heiress,  who  had  married  his  son.  In  the  absence 
of  Martin,  his  wife,  Maria  de  Luna,  was  proclaimed 
queen  and  took  upon  her  the  government  of  the  king- 
dom. Messengers  were  immediately  dispatched  to  the 
new  sovereign,  urging  the  necessity  of  his  prompt  re- 
turn, as  the  Conde  de  Foix,  who  had  married  the  eldest 
daughter  of  the  late  king,  was  preparing  to  assert  by 
arms  his  wife's  right  to  the  crown  of  Aragon.  The 
queen,  in  the  meanwhile,  displayed  a  prudence  and 
capacity  that  proved  her  fully  capable  of  discharging 
the  important  duties  that  devolved  on  her.  Even  dur- 
ing the  preceding  reign,  Maria  had  shown  herself  pos- 
sessed of  no  little  energy  and  decision,  by  levying  troops 


138  THE    QUEENS   OF    SPAIN. 

to  send  to  her  husband's  assistance  in  Sicily ;  and  now, 
by  the  vigorous  measures  she  suggested,  she  so  effec- 
tually repelled  the  invasion  of  the  Count  of  Foix,  that 
he  was  finally  driven  from  the  kingdom  he  had  thus 
forcibly  sought  to  win. 

Two  years  after  the  death  of  his  brother,  Martin 
was  enabled  to  leave  Sicily  and  return  to  Aragon,  when 
he  was  solemnly  crowned,  in  April  of  1399.     The  coro- 
nation of  the  queen  took  place  a  few  days  after  that  of 
the  king.     Among  the  ladies  who  attended  on  the  oc- 
casion, were  Violante,  the  exiled  queen  of  Naples,  the 
infanta  Isabel,  sister-in-law  of  Maria,  the  Countess  of 
Luna  and  her  mother,  and  Dona  Margarita  de  Prades,  a 
princess  of  the  blood  royal,  who  was  destined  to  suc- 
ceed the  present  queen  on  the  throne.     A  powerful 
fleet  having  been  sent,  out  to  Sicily,  the  rebellion  was 
at  length  quelled.     About  this  time  a  body  of  some 
15,000   fanatics,  calling  themselves  the  white  peni- 
tents, made  their  appearance  in   Sicily.      The  sove- 
reigns of  Aragon  and  Sicily,  anticipating  the  evils  that 
might  accrue  from  the  presence  of  so  numerous  a  band 
in  an  unsettled  country,  took  vigorous  measures  for 
the  immediate  dispersion  of  the  actors  of  this  religious 
farce,  which  were  finally  successful.     Peace  and  tran- 
quillity had  scarcely  been  restored  in  the  lovely  isle  from 
which,  for  more  than  a  century,  and  during  the  reigns 
of  seven  kings  of  Aragon,  they  had  been  banished, 
when  the  members  of  the  royal   family  occupying  the 
thrones  of  both  countries,  as  though  doomed   by  the 
angry  fiat  of  an  offended  Deity,  one  by  one,  in  quick 


MARIA  DE  LUNA.  139 

succession,  dropped  into  a  premature  grave.  The  only 
son  of  the  reigning  sovereign  of  Sicily,  the  grandson 
and  heir  of  the  king  of  Aragon,  died  in  Catania,  in  the 
spring  of  the  year  1401.  Authors  do  not  agree  as  to 
the  name  and  age  of  this  prince.  The  Aragonians,  who 
call  him  Pedro,  say  he  was  but  a  few  months  old,  and 
assert  that  he  died  a  natural  death.  The  Sicilians  call 
him  Fadrique,  say  he  was  seven  years  of  age,  and  as- 
cribe his  death  to  his  having,  while  learning  the  use 
of  arms  in  the  presence  of  his  delighted  parents,  by 
some  untoward  accident,  fallen  on  the  point  of  a  sword 
which,  entering  his  body  up  to  the  hilt,  occasioned  his 
death.  Whether  the  Sicilians  were  right  in  their  con- 
jectures that  the  queen  sickened  and  died  from  excess 
of  grief  at  the  loss  of  her  son,  or  whether  her  death 
proceeded  from  some  other  cause,  it  is  certain  she  sur- 
vived him  but  a  short  time,  expiring  on  the  27th  of  May 
of  the  same  year.  It  was  deemed  advisable  that  the 
king  should  contract  a  second  marriage,  as  by  his  first 
he  had  no  son  left  to  inherit  after  his  death  the  crowns 
of  Aragon  and  Sicily,  and  from  among  the  number  of 

•*    ' 

princesses  proposed  to  him,  he  chose  Blanche,  daughter 
of  Charles  III.,  surnamed  the  Noble,  king  of  Navarre, 
and  the  nuptials  were  celebrated  in  1402.  In  Decem- 
ber of  1406,  the 'queen  of  Aragon  died,  greatly  regret- 
ted by  the  whole  nation.  Daughter  and  heiress  of  the 
famous  Don  Lope  de  Luna,  by  his  second  wife,  Bri- 
anda  de  Agaout,  Dona  Maria  had  come  into  possession 
of  her  father's  vast  domains  on  the  express  condition 
that  one  of  her  descendants  should  inherit  them,  and 


140  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

bear  the  title  and  coat-of-arms  of  the  counts  of  Luna. 
The  death  of  this  queen  whose  piety,  strong  intellect, 
prudence  and  charity,  are  greatly  extolled  by  all  the 
Spanish  historians,  was  followed  by  that  of  her  only 
surviving  son,  Martin,  king  of  Sicily,  who  died  in  1409, 
aged  thirty-four  years.  Dona  Maria  had  also  given  birth 
to  a  daughter,  Margaretta,  and  to  two  sons,  James  and 
John,  but  these  children  died  in  infancy.  The  rivalry 
of  the  numerous  candidates  for  the  succession  to  his 
crown,  even  during  his  life,  so  disgusted  the  widowed 
king  of  Aragon,  that  he  endeavored,  by  a  second  mar- 
riage, to  disappoint  them  all.  Dona  Margarita  de 
Prades,  a  princess  of  the  royal  house  of  Aragon,  and 
daughter  of  the  Count  of  Prades,  was  the  lady  chosen, 
but  Martin's  hopes  of  a  son  were  disappointed,  and  he 
died  leaving  no  issue,  in  1410.  Nothing  more  is 
known  of  Dona  Margarita. 


DOftA  LEONORA  DE  ALBURQJJERQUE. 
1412. 

REIGN   OF    JON   FERNANDO    I. 

THE  death  of  Martin  was  followed  by  an  interreg- 
num of  two  years,  during  which  the  numerous  pretend- 
ers to  the  crown  strenuously  urged  their  several  claims, 
not  forgetting  to  use  the  forcible  argument  of  arms  in 
support  of  their  pretensions.  As  usual  in  such  cases, 
the  powerful  nobles  of  Aragon  were  divided  into  factions, 


D05fA  LEONORA  DE  ALBURQUERQUE.        141 

each  supported  the  party  that  most  favored  its  interests, 
and  great  disturbances  ensued.  Finally  the  states 
having  named  a  novel  tribunal,  consisting  of  nine  doc- 
tors learned  in  the  law,  the  disputed  crown  was 
awarded  to  Don  Fernando,  of  Castile,  uncle  to  Juan, 
the  reigning  sovereign  of  that  country,  and  son  of  the 
infanta  Leonora  of  Aragon,  sister  of  the  late  Don  Mar- 
tin. At  the  period  of  his  accession  to  the  throne,  Fer- 
nando was  thirty-four  years  of  age,  and  had  been  some 
time  married  to  Dona  Leonora*  or  Urraca,  Countess  of 
Alburquerque  and  Montalvan,  and  lady  of  the  five 
townships  of  the  Infantazgo  of  Castile,  so  wealthy  an 
heiress,  that  she  was  surnamed  La  rica  hembra,  (the 
rich  maid.)  By  this  lady,  Ferdinand  had  six  sons,  Al- 
fonso, Juan  and  Ferdinand,  who  all  successively  as- 
cended the  throne,  Enrique,  Grand  Master  of  Santiago, 
Pedro  and  Sanchos  and  two  daughters,  Maria,  who  be- 
came queen  of  Castile,  and  Leonor,  who  became  queen 
of  Portugal.  The  crown  which  his  father,  Don  Juan, 
had  used  at  his  coronation  as  king  of  Castile,  was  sent 
to  Ferdinand  by  his  mother,  to  be  used  at  his  own 
coronation  as  king  of  Aragon  ;  and  this  little  incident 
was  subsequently  thought  by  many  to  have  presaged 
the  union  of  the  two  kingdoms  that  took  place  under 
his  grandson,  Ferdinand,  the  second  of  that  name  in 
Aragon,  and  the  fifth  in  Castile. 

The  commencement  of  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  was 
disturbed  by  the  restless,  ambitious  spirit  of  the  Count 

*  Urraca  was  originally  the  name  of  the  queen  of  Ferdinand  the 
First,  but  it  was  afterwards  changed  to  Leonora. 


142  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

of  Urgel,  who  had  been  one  of  the  competitors  for  th.? 
crown,  and  who,  prompted  by  his  mother,  attempted  to 
dispute  it  still  with  the  newly  elected  sovereign. 
James,  Count  of  Urgel,  had  married  Isabel,  daughter  of 
Pedro  IV.,  and  half  sister  of  that  monarch's  sons  and  suc- 
cessors, Juan  and  Martin,  and  as  his  claim  to  the  crown 
was  in  his  wife's  name  it  was  set  aside,  the  females 
being  excluded,  if  not  by  law,  by  the  stubborn  opposition 
of  the  nation.  He  would  probably  have  submitted  to 
the  decision  of  the  judges  who  pronounced  in  favor  of 
the  infanta  of  Castile,  had  not  his  mother,  the  Countess 
Margarita,  a  woman  of  a  proud  spirit  and  unbounded 
ambition,  incited  him  to  persevere  in  his  claim  and 
endeavor  to  obtain  by  force  of  arms  that  which  was 
denied  him.  Ferdinand,  in  order  to  ensure  the  undis- 
turbed possession  of  his  newly  acquired  honors,  en- 
deavored to  conciliate  the  count  by  proposing  that  his 
second  son  should  marry  the  eldest  daughter  of  the 
latter ;  no  great  concession  on  the  king's  part,  if  we 
consider  that  the  little  lady  was  the  heiress  of  her 
father's  vast  domains,  and,  being  descended  on  both 
sides  from  the  royal  house  of  Aragon,  might  have  been 
thought  a  suitable  match  for  any  sovereign.  But, 
however  inclined  the  count  might  be  to  listen  to  the 
king's  advances,  the  dowager  countess  would  hear  of 
no  proposals  that  tended  to  make  her  son  relinquish 
his  claim,  and  incessantly  urged  him  to  reject  all  over- 
tures from  his  successful  rival. 

"  My  son,  the  crown  or  nothing !"  she  daily  repeated, 
reminding  him  of  the  valor  and  perseverance  of  his 


DOSA  LEONORA  DE  ALBURQUERQUE.       143 

ancestor,  the  infante  James,  who  had  so  stoutly  re- 
sisted the  efforts  of  his  brother  Pedro  IV.  to  deprive  him 
of  the  succession,  and  how  the  majority  of  the  nobles 
and  the  body  of  the  people  had  espoused  his  cause — 
Pedro  being  only  able  to  get  rid  of  his  pretensions  by 
taking  his  life.  She  represented  the  shame  that  would 
fall  on  him  should  he  accept  the  terms  offered.  With- 
consummate  art,  she  urged  that  Ferdinand  had  ex- 
hausted his  treasures  and  the  good  will  of  his  support- 
ers in  the  acquisition  of  the  crown,  both  of  which  re- 
sources would  be  found  wanting  should  the  struggle 
be  renewed — that  the  nation  resented  his  having 
entered  the  kingdom  at  the  head  of  armed  troops, 
rather  as  a  conqueror  than  a  chosen  sovereign — that 
the  Aragonese  were  also  greatly  angered  by  the  prefer- 
ence given  in  all  appointments  to  the  Castilian  adher- 
ents of  Ferdinand.  She  listened  with  haughty  im- 
patience to  the  messages  of  the  king,  rejected  his 
offered  conditions  with  scorn,  and  vowed  that  her  grand- 
children, the  Conde's  three  little  daughters  should 
never  do  homage  to  Urraca,  Countess  of  Alburquerque, 
as  she  insolently  designated  the  queen.  Nor  was  the 
wife  of  the  Conde  less  urgent,  and  the  Conde  being 
goaded  oh,  moreover,  by  his  own  ambition,  raised  the 
standard  of  revolt.  The  result  of  this  mad  enterprise 
proved  most  unfortunate,  the  Conde  being  finally 
defeated,  taken  and  condemned  to  perpetual  imprison- 
ment, while  his  aspiring  mother  was  deprived  of  her 
estates  and  subsequently  of  her  liberty. 

Ferdinand  died,  aged  thirty-seven  years,  on  the  2d 


144  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

of  April,  1416,  in  the  village  of  Igualada,  six  eagues 
from  Barcelona.  The  enemies  of  this  king  accuse 
him  of  having,  while  regent  of  Castile,  appropriated 
the  revenues  of  his  nephew  John  to  the  furtherance  of 
his  claims  on  Aragon  ;  they  also  reproach  him  with 
seeking  to  marry  his  own  son,  the  infante  Juan,  a 
youth  of  eighteen,  to  the  queen  of  Naples,  though 
that  sovereign  was  upwards  of  forty  and  of  no  very 
fair  repute,  while  the  infante  was  already  betrothed  to 
the  infanta  of  Navarre.  Accustomed  to  wield  the 
sceptre  in  Castile,  during  the  minority  of  the  infante 
Juan,  Ferdinand  could  ill  brook  the  arrogance  of  his 
new  subjects,  the  Aragonese  and  Catalans,  who  accus- 
tomed to  curb  the  authority  and  control  the  will  of 
their  monarchs,  little  relished  the  despotic  sway  of 
Ferdinand.  The  prudence,  equity  and  disinterested- 
ness of  Ferdinand's  administration  while  regent  in  Cas- 
tile, triumphantly  refute  the  accusation  of  his  foes,  and 
the  peace  he  maintained  during  that  minority  is  almost 
unprecedented  in  history.  The  alliance  with  Naples 
was  also  judicious  in  a  political  sense,  and  his  son 
Enrique,  grand  master  of  Santiago,  whom  he  proposed 
as  a  husband  for  the  princess  of  Navarre,  was  richly  en- 
dowed with  Castilian  domains.  That  Ferdinand  was 
possessed  of  many  great  and  noble  qualities  and  that 
his  character  was  stained  by  no  vice  is  undeniable,  and 
his  premature  death  was  certainly  a  misfortune  to  the 
nation.* 

*  Fernando  in  the  will  he  made  the  year  preceding  that  of  his 
death,  left  his  jewels,  gold  and  silver  plate,  the  towns  of  Magorga, 


DOSfA  LEONORA  DE  ALBURQUERQUE.       145 

From  the  period  of  her  husband's  death,  the  inci- 
dents of  the  life  of  Leonora  become  so  blended  with 
those  of  the  reign  of  Don  Juan,  king  of  Castile,  that 
the  reader  is  referred  for  further  particulars  to  the 
annals  of  Maria,  consort  of  that  sovereign,  and  daugh- 
ter of  Leonor.  Hitherjto  the  auspicious  fates  had 
left  no  wish  of  the  favored  Leonora  ungratified.  The 
honored  consort  of  the  monarch  who  had  been  the 
choice  of  the  nation,  mother  of  five  gallant  youths,  the 
flower  of  the  royal  blood  of  Castile,  and  of  two  fair 

Paredes  and  Villa  de  Tormes,  18,000  doblas  de  oro  de  juro  de 
heredad,  and  10,000  gold  florins  o(  the  Behetrias  that  he  pos- 
sessed in  Castile,  and  all  the  income  that  came  to  him  from  his 
Castilian  domains,  for  the  payment  of  his  debts.  In  case  the  mar- 
riage projected  between  his  second  son  Juan  and  the  queen  of  Naples 
should  not  take  place,  he  expressed  a  wish  that  Juan  should  marry 
Isabel,  daughter  of  the  king  of  Navarre  and  of  his  aunt  Leonora, 
and  agdn  should  this  union  not  be  carried  into  effect,  his  third  son 
Enrique  was  to  marry  the  princess ;  in  case  none  of  these  mar- 
riages took  place,  the  10,000  florins  Ferdinand  had  already  received 
from  the  king  of  Navarre  as  his  daughter's  dower,  were  to  be  re- 
turned to  that  sovereign,  for  the  payment  of  which  sum,  Ferdinand 
expressly  designated  his  town  of  Paredes  de  Nava.  The  domains 
the  king  and  queen  possessed  in  Castile  were  distributed  as  fol- 
lows : — to  Juan,  the  Lordship  of  Lara,  the  town  of  Medina  del 
Campo,  am  adjacent  vilages,  the  Duchy  of  Penafiel,  and  Condado 
of  Mayorga  the  towns  of  Cuellar,  Castroxeriz,  Olmedo,  Villalon — 
and  in  Rioja — Haro,  Bilhorado,  Briones  and  Cerezo,  in  Cataluria, 
the  town  of  Montblanc  with  the  title  of  Duke.  To  the  infante, 
Don  Enrique,  the  Condado  of  Albuquerque,  Salvatierra,  Miranda, 
Montemayor,  Granada  and  Caliostro,  then  called  the  Five  Towns. — 
To  Sancho,  the  towns  of  Montaloza,  de  la  Puebla,  and  Mondejar. 
fo  Pedro,  the  towns  of  Terrac,an,  Villagrasse,  and  Tarrajo  in  Cat- 


146  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

daughters,  whose  alliance  was  eagerly  sought  by  the 
princes  of  Europe,  queen  of  Aragon,  and  all  but  queen 
in  Castile,  where  her  immense  possessions  gave  her 
unbounded  influence,  Leonora  seemed  placed  beyond 
the  reach  of  malice  and  secured  against  the  caprices  of 
fortune.  With  the  reign  of  Ferdinand,  however,  ended 
her  prosperity,  and  his  death  was  the  first  of  the  long 
series  of  vicissitudes  that  chequered  the  remainder  of 
her  existence. 


MARIA  DE  CASTILE. 
1416. 

REIGN   OP    DON    ALFONSO,    (THE    MAGNANIMOUS.) 

BON  ALFONSO  the  eldest  son  of  Ferdinand  I.,  was 
contracted  during  his  father's  reign  to  Joanna,  queen 
of  Naples,  but  ere  the  prince  arrived  to  claim  his  bride 
her  inconstant  humor  had  chosen  another  bridegroom 
and  Jaques  of  Bourbon,  Count  de  la  Marche,  one  cer- 
tainly better  suited  in  point  of  years,  had  obtained  the 
preference.  The  sequel  proved  that  the  prince  had 
been  fortunate  in  losing  a  bride  who  besides  being  his 
senior  by  twenty-two  years,  became  as  celebrated  for 
her  ill  conduct  as  for  her  misfortunes.  The  prince,  on 
his  return  to  Spain,  married  his  cousin,  the  infanta 
Dona  Maria,  daughter  of  Henry  III,  king  of  Castile, 

aluna,  and  Elche  and  Crevillen  in  Castile.     To  the  infantas   Maria 
and  Leonor,  50,000  iibras  Barcelonesas  each. 


MARIA  DE  CASTILE.  147 

and  of  his  queen  Dona  Catalina.  The  nuptials  were 
celeb  rated  on  the  12th  of  June,  1415,  the  bride's  dower 
consisting  of  200,000  doblas  Castellanas,  besides  valu- 
able jewels.  This  marriage  was  productive  of  no  hap- 
piness to  the  wedded  pair,  inconstancy  on  one  side  and 
vindictive  rage  on  the  other  causing  a  breach,  that  time 
was  powerless  to  heal.  Alfonso  having  succeeded  his  fa- 
ther in  1416,  a  plot  was  formed  in  favor  of  the  Count  of 
Urgel,  which,  however,  was  almost  immediately  discov- 
ered, and  it  was  on  this  occasion  that  the  kinsr  obtain- 

*  O 

ed  his  surname  of  the  Magnanimous,  by  his  refusal  to 
learn  the  names  of  the  conspirators,  thus  putting  it  out 
of  his  power  to  proceed  against  them.  Having,  in  1419, 
undertaken  in  person  the  pacification  of  Sardinia, 
Alfonso  named  his  queen  to  the  regency  during  his 
absence,  which  after  the  accomplishment  of  the  object 
of  the  expedition  was  prolonged  by  the  following  cir- 
cumstances. Dona  Juana,  the  queen  of  Naples,  sur- 
rounded by  enemies  and  kept  a  prisoner  in  Naples  by 
her  nephew,  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  solicited  the  aid  of  her 
former  suitor,  offering,  as  a  return  for  the  assistance  he 
might  render  her,  to  adopt  him  solemnly  as  her  heir. 
After  spending  some  time  in  that  kingdom  and  experi- 
encing every  vicissitude  of  good  and  ill  fortune  in  his 
continued  warfare  with  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  Sforza,  the 
Duke  of  Milan,  and  the  fickle  queen  herself,  the  occur- 
rences in  Castile  demanding  Alfonso's  speedy  return  to 
Spain,  and  his  interference  in  behalf  of  his  brothers, 
he  set  out  for  his  own  dominions  in  October  of  1423- 
Having  on  his  way  beseiged  and  taken  Marseilles,  tho 


TMH   Qr;:i'..%s   HK   SPAIN. 

richest  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou's  possessions,  Alfonso  here 
again  proved  himself  worthy  his  surname.  The  city 
having  been  taken  by  assault,  the  principal  ladies  took 
refuge  in  the  churches,  and  the  king,  to  whom  it  was 
reported,  ordered  the  noblest  of  his  gentlemen  to  mount 
guard  at  the  doors  and  protect  them  from  insult,  while 
he  himself  went  through  the  town  putting  a  stop  to 
the  pillage  and  assisting  in  extinguishing  the  fires  that 
had  broken  out  in  several  quarters  of  the  town.  The 
dames  of  Marseilles  in  gratitude  sent  their  jewels  to 
the  gallant  foe,  but  the  king  returned  them  instantly 
to  the  donors.  The  disputes  of  the  Infantes  of  Aragon 
with  the  King  of  Castile*  had  now  arrived  at  such  a 
height  that  their  brother,  the  king  of  Aragon,  could  no 
longer  delay  taking  an  active  part  in  the  debates,  being 
moreover  urged  by  the  prayers  of  his  cousin  Catalina, 
sister  of  his  own  queen,  and  wife  of  his  brother  En- 
rique, who  had  now  been  imprisoned  over  two  years  by 
the  king  of  Castile.  Finding  his  pacific  remonstrances 
of  no  avail,  Alfonso  advanced  to  the  frontiers  of  Castile? 
at  the  head  of  a  large  body  of  troops,  but  Maria  dread- 
ing the  hostile  meeting  between  those  so  closely  allied 
to  her,  interfered  to  prevent  it,  and  finally  adjusted  the 
difficulty,  the  infante  Enrique  being  reinstated  in  his 
honors  and  possessions.  The  peace  was,  however,  but 
a  truce.  The  king  of  Castile,  a  weak-minded  monarch, 
alike  incapable  of  love  or  hatred,  was  governed  entirely 
by  his  favorite,  the  Condesable,  Don  Alonso  de  Luna, 
between  whom  and  the  infantes  of  Aragon  there 
*  Vide  "  Annals  of  Maria  of  Castile,  wife  of  Juan  2d." 


MARIA    DE    CASTILE. 


149 


existed  that  deep  hatred  so  frequently  resulting  from 
clashing  interests  ;  and  both  parties  being  equally  intent 
on  governing  both  king  and  kingdom,  the  strife  was 
renewed  with  increased  animosity.  Alfonso,  in  the 
support  of  his  brother's  interests,  involved  his  subjects 
in  the  expenses  incidental  to  war,  but  which,  in  the 
present  case,  being  productive  of  no  ultimate  benefit  to 
the  nation,  were  doubly  galling.  After  wasting  the 
resources  of  his  dominions  in  this  family  quarrel, 
Alfonso  was  compelled  to  return  to  Naples  and  secure 
his  inheritance  there,  but  the  fickle  nature  of  Joanna 
proved  a  fertile  source  of  vexation  and  annoyance,  and 
the  unavoidable  warfare  finally  ended  with  the  capture 
and  imprisonment,  by  the  Genoese,  of  Alfonso,  his  bro- 
ther Juan,  king  of  Navarre,*  and  Don  Enrique.  Mean- 
while Maria,  who  had  again  been  left  regent  in  Aragon, 
had  obtained  a  truce  of  her  brother,  the  king  of  Castile, 
who,  notwithstanding  the  weakness  of  his  intellect,  was 
too  good  a  knight  to  persist  in  waging  war  when  his 
opponents  were  two  ladies,  and  of  those  ladies  the  one 
his  sister  the  other  his  cousin. f  The  queen  of  Aragon 
having  had  a  conference  with  her  brother,  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  this  truce,  was  treated  by  him 
with  the  utmost  affection :  and  these  natural  tokens  of 
brotherly  love  were  subsequently  interpreted  greatly  to 
the  queen's  disadvantage,  the  petty  jealousy  of  the 

*  Don  Juan  having  married  the  infanta  of  Navarre,  on  the  death 
of  his  father-in-law,  Carlos,  in  1421,  had  succeeded  to  the  throne 
of  Navarre.  Vide  "  Life  of  Blanche,  of  Navarre." 

f  Blanche,  who  was  left  Regent  of  Navarre  in  her  husband's 
absence,  was  daughter  of  Leonor.  aunt  of  Juan. 


150  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

king  inclining  him  to  suspect  her  of  favoring  her 
brother's  party  more  than  his.  In  1429,  the  inter- 
ference of  Maria  again  prevented  the  effusion  of  blood. 
The  Castilian  and  Aragonian  armies  being  about  to 
engage,  Maria  hastened  to  the  spot,  caused  her  tent  to 
be  pitched  between  the  hostile  troops,  and  passing  from 
one  to  the  other,  so  wrought  upon  the  better  feelings  of 
her  husband  and  brother,  that  peace  was  again  patched 
up  between  them.  In  this  same  year,  Don  Francisco 
de  Arguello,  Archbishop  of  Saragossa,  being  convicted 
of  holding  a  traitorous  correspondence  with  the  Con- 
destable  of  Castile,  was  thrown  into  prison,  and  there 
privately  strangled.  Though  his  punishment  was 
generally  known,  it  excited  neither  resentment  nor 
surprise,  as  it  was  thought  to  have  been  deservedly 
incurred,  but  the  true  motives  of  this  summary  execu- 
tion are  otherwise  reported  by  some  writers.  It  is 
said,  that  one  day  as  he  was  walking  with  the  queen, 
to  whom  etiquette  demanded  that  he  should  offer  his 
arm,  the  prelate,  forgetting  the  respect  due  her,  had  the 
insolence  to  use  improper  language  to  his  sovereign. 
Maria,  whose  honor  is  unimpeached,  forbore  to  notice 
his  words,  and  even  affected  not  to  have  heard  them, 
but  they  were  noted  by  others  and  reported  to  the 
king.  That  night  Arguello  was  seized,  strangled,  and 
thrown  into  the  Ebro.  Though  Maria  had  qualities 
that  won  her  the  esteem  and  veneration  of  her  sub- 
jects, her  domestic  life  was  most  unhappy.  The  pas- 
sion of  Alfonso  for  Dona  Margarita  de  Ijar,  one  of  the 
queen's  ladies,  had  caused  much  disquiet  for  some 


MARIA    DE    CASTILE.  151 

time  to  Maria,  and  the  truth  of  her  suspicions  having 
become  but  too  manifest,  in  a  fit  of  jealous  frenzy  she 
ordered  her  hapless  rival  to  be  strangled.  The  king,  who 
was  at  the  time  engaged  in  hunting,  was  so  enraged 
when  told  of  the  fate  of  his  mistress  and  her  unborn 
babe,  that  he  took  a  solemn  oath  he  would  never  again 
live  with  the  queen,  and  this  oath  he  never  once  broke 
during  the  course  of  his  long  reign.  The  queen  being 
childless,  the  most  binding  of  all  ties  was  wanting  be- 
tween the  estranged  pair,  and  though  the  unhappy 
Maria  loved  her  faithless  lord  to  the  last  day  of  her 
life  with  undiminished  affection,  the  pitiless  revenge 
she  had  consummated  was  never  forgiven,  and  the  indif- 
ference of  Alfonso  waxing  from  that  day  into  absolute 
hatred,  he  lost  no  opportunity  of  mortifying  and  vexing 
her.  In  1435,  he  took  from  her  the  regency  of  Aragon 
and  Valencia,  leaving  her  that  of  Catoluna  alone,  and 
even  in  that  she  was  associated  with  her  brother-in-law 
the  king  of  Navarre,  to  whom  he  also  gave  the  govern- 
ment of  the  provinces  taken  from  the  sway  of  Maria. 
The  queen  deeply  wounded  by  this  undeserved  insult, 
in  the  speech  she  delivered  on  taking  leave  of  the  Cor- 
tes, openly  testified  her  resentment,  saying  :  "  Hence- 
forward the  regency  of  the  kingdoms  of  Aragon  and 
Valencia  will  be  filled  by  another,"  thus  carefully 
abstaining  from  mentioning  her  brother-in-law,  between 
whom  and  herself  there  was  now  that  enmity  that  is 
the  infallible  result  of  rivalry  in  power.  Maria  never 
was  reconciled  to  her  husband,  who  spent  the  greater 
part  of  his  life  warring  in  Italy,  and  who  during  the 


152  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

latter  part  of  it  became  so  much  attached  to  one  of  his 
mistresses,  Lucretia  de  Alano,  that  he  endeavored  to 
get  divorced  from  his  queen  that  he  might  give  this 
lady  the  place  on  the  throne  she  occupied  in  his  heart, 
but  this  design  was  frustrated  bv  the  firmness  of  his 

o  » 

enemy,  Pope  Calixto.  who  constantly  refused  to  give  it 
his  assent.  Don  Alfonso  died  in  1458,  in  the  65th 
year  of  his  age,  and  the  43d  of  his  reign.  His  animos- 
ity survived  him,  for  he  omitted  all  mention  of  Maria 
in  his  will. 

Dona  Maria  died  in  the  same  year,  in  the  city  of 
Valencia,  having  lived  estranged  from  her  husband 
twenty-six  years,  never  having  even  seen  him  after 
his  second  expedition  to  Naples,  in  1432. 


DONA  JUANA   HENRIQUEZ, 
(QUEEN  OP  ARAGON.) 

1458. 

REIGN    OP    JUAN    U. 

DURING  the  protracted  absence  of  Alfonso  V.,  in  his 
kingdom  of  Naples,  his  hereditary  dominions  were  gov- 
erned by  his  brother  Juan,  who,  by  the  death  of  his 
father-in-law,  Charles  III.,  the  Noble,  had  become 
king  of  Navarre.  Blanche  of  Navarre,  the  first  wife 
of  Juan,  dying  in  1442,  he  contracted,  in  1447,  a 
second  marriage  with  Juana  Henriquez,  daughter  of 


JUANA    HENRIQUEZ.  153 

Don  Frederico  Henriquez,  admiral  of  Castile.  This 
lady,  who  was  of  the  blood  royal  of  Castile,  though 
much  younger  than  her  husband,  possessed  an 
equal  share  of  energy  and  resolution,  and  rendered 
herself  as  famous  for  her  consummate  skill  in  mili- 
tary affairs,  and  diplomacy,  for  her  grasping  ambition, 
persevering  spirit  and  daring  courage,  as  for  the  hatred 
with  which  she  pursued  her  amiable  step-son,  and 
sought  to  deprive  him  of  his  maternal  inheritance. 
A  retrospective  glance  should  have  warned  her  to 
beware  of  following  the  pernicious  examples  of  sev- 
eral of  the  queens,  her  predecessors,  whose  ungen- 
erous conduct  towards  their  step-sons  had  so  fre- 
quently ignited  the  torch  of  civil  war,  and  proved  the 
source  of  every  ill,  not  only  to  the  kingdom,  but  to  the 
reigning  royal  family.  But  Juana  profited  not  by  the 
lessons  of  the  past,  and  this  one  trait  throws  a  shadow 
over  her  many  good  qualities,  and  the  splendid  talents 
that  seemed  to  proclaim  her  born  to  reign.  Indeed, 
her  hatred  towards  the  hapless  prince  of  Viana  ap- 
pears unfounded  and  gratuitous,  as  it  was  made 
manifest  long  previous  to  the  birth  of  her  own  son, 
Fernando,  in  whose  favor  it  was  natural  for  one  of  her 
ambitious  spirit  to  seek  to  dispossess  the  elder  son 
and  heir. 

Charles  was  entitled,  by  his  mother's  marriage  con- 
tract, confirmed  by  the  wills  of  his  grandfather  and 
his  mother,  to  claim,  at  the  death  of  the  latter,  tho 
kingdom  of  Navarre,  of  which  he  had  been,  during 
the  last  years  of  her  life,  the  lieutenant-general ;  but, 
7* 


154  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

content  with  exercising  the  rights  of  a  sovereign,  he 
willingly  allowed  his  father  to  retain  the  title  for  some 
years  after  the  death  of  Blanche.  The  calm  was 
broken,  in  1452,  by  Juan  sending  his  young  queen 
into  Navarre,  and  empowering  her  to  share  the  ad- 
ministration of  government  with  the  crown  prince  and 
rightful  sovereign,  whose  superior  and  cultivated 
intellect,  as  well  as  his  mature  age,  should  have  se- 
cured him  from  such  an  insult.  Juana  herself,  far  from 
softening  the  blow  by  a  judicious  and  mild  behavior, 
seemed  to  take  pleasure  in  adding  to  the  prince's  mor- 
tification by  the  most  insolent  assumption  of  authority 
and  an  overbearing  demeanor,  taking  no  pains  to  dis- 
semble the  malice  she  bore  him.  It  is  asserted  by 
some  writers  that  during  her  stay  in  Navarre,  the 
queen  wishing  to  do  honor  to  the  admiral  her  father, 
who  was  at  the  time  an  exile  from  the  court  of  Castile, 
desired  the  prince  should  wait  on  him  at  table, 
and  that  his  refusal  to  do  so  occasioned  the  rup- 
ture between  him  and  the  admiral.  This  story, 
however,  is  extremely  improbable,  as  the  queen  would 
never  have  dared  to  make  such  a  request  of  one  who 
was  in  reality  the  lawful  sovereign  of  the  realm,  nor, 
had  she  expressed  such  a  wish,  would  the  admiral,  who 
was  an  accomplished  and  courteous  noble,  have  given 
it  his  sanction.  Two  rival  factions  now  divided 
Navarre  ;  the  Beaumonts  who  sided  with  their  prince, 
and  the  Agramonts  who  belonged  to  the  old  king's 
party,  and  confusion  and  discord  reigned  throughout 
the  country.  Juana,  who,  at  her  arrival  in  Navarre, 


DOflA    JUANA    HENRIQUEZ.  155 

was  in  the  commencement  of  her  pregnancy,  remained 
there  until  March  of  the  following  year,  when  the 
period  of  her  confinement  drawing  near,  unwilling  it 
should  take  place  there  she  determined  to  return  to 
Aragon.  She  was  placed  in  a  litter,  but  compelled  to 
stop  at  the  first  village  she  came  to,  after  passing  the 
frontiers,  and  at  this  place,  called  Sos,  was  born  Fer- 
nando, whose  prospects  then,  as  a  younger  brother, 
little  foretold  the  glorious  destiny  that  awaited  him  as 
monarch  of  all  Spain  and  lord  of  a  new  world.  The 
birth  of  this  son  was  a  joyful  event  to  King  Juan,  who 
from  that  time  centered  on  the  offspring  of  his  second 
wife  all  his  hopes  and  affections,  treating  those  of  the 
first  with  an  indifference  that  amounted  to  aversion. 
War  now  broke  out  between  the  rival  factions,  the 
prince  claiming  his  rights  and  the  king  withholding 
them,  each  alternately  gaining  the  ascendancy,  though 
without  any  decided  advantage  on  either  side.  This 
state  of  things  continued  until  the  year  1457,  when 
the  prince,  tired  of  contending  with  his  father,  deter- 
mined to  repair  to  Naples  and  solicit  the  protection 
and  mediation  of  his  uncle  Alfonso.  "While  on  his  way 
thither  he  was  received  with  the  utmost  kindness  in 
France  and  Italy,  especially  in  Rome  by  Pope  Calixto, 
the  gallant  bearing,  refined  manners,  and  (for  that  age,) 
extraordinary  learning  of  the  prince,  winning  the  admi- 
ration and  love  of  all  who  knew  him.  On  reaching 
the  court  of  Naples,  he  was  received  with  open  arms 
by  his  uncle,  who  beheld  in  this  accomplished  knight 
the  worthy  heir  of  his  kingdoms  of  Aragon  and  Naples, 


156  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

Alfonso  himself  having  no  legitimate  children.  With 
great  tact  and  judgment  the  king  undertook  to  recon- 
cile the  father  and  son,  and  put  an  end  to  the  unnatural 
contest  that  desolated  Navarre,  but  unfortunately  his 
death,  which  occurred  in  the  following  year,  prevented 
him  from  fulfilling  his  kind  and  wise  designs,  and  the 
crown  of  Aragon  fell  to  his  brother  Juan,  who  during 
the  protracted  absence  for  twenty-three  years  of  Alfon- 
so in  Naples,  had  been  regent  of  the  kingdom  he  now 
inherited  at  the  advanced  age  of  sixty-two.  Thus  Na- 
varre and  Aragon  were  again  united  after  having  been 
separated  three  hundred  and  twenty-three  years  and 
eight  months,  since  the  death  of  Alfonso  the  Warrior. 
Juan  had  then  been  reigning  in  Navarre  nearly  thirty- 
three  years  since  the  death  of  his  father-in-law  Charles 
the  Noble,  and  by  his  contracting  a  second  marriage, 
was  not,  in  law,  entitled  to  that  kingdom  which,  as  the 
dower  of  his  first  wife,  reverted  to  her  children.  Alfon- 
so had  left  his  kingdom  of  Naples  to  his  illegitimate 
son  Don  Fadrique,  but  a  strong  party  of  the  Neapo- 
litans preferring  the  legitimate  nephew  to  the  bastard 
son,  offered  the  crown  to  Carlos,  who,  however,  refused 
it. 

The  kingdom  of  Naples  being  once  more  the  prey  of 
factions,  the  prince  went  over  to  Sicily,  which  in  con- 
sequence of  Alfonso's  death  now  formed  part  of  Juan's 
possessions.  Here  he  was  received  with  extraordinary 
rejoicings,  the  mental  and  physical  qualities  of  this 
elegant  cavalier  and  accomplished  scholar,  completely 
fascinating  the  enthusiastic  Sicilians,  who  paid  him 


DOl?  A    JUAN  A    HENRIQUEZ.  157 

the  honors  due  him  as  Prince  of  Viana,  heir  on  the 
mother's  side  of  Navarre,  and  now  Prince  of  Grirona, 
and  as  heir  of  Juan,  crown-prince  of  the  kingdoms 
of  Aragon,  Valencia,  of  the  principality  of  Catalona, 
and  of  the  kingdoms  of  Sicily,  Sardinia,  Mallorca  and 
Minorca,  and  other  islands  of  the  Mediterranean. 
Charles  remained  in  Sicily  until  the  middle  of  the  year 
1459.  The  Sicilians,  to  whom  he  daily  became  more 
endeared,  actually  entreated  him  to  accept  the  sove- 
reignty of  Sicily,  and  the  old  king  alarmed  at  the  exces- 
sive predilection  shown  his  hated  son,  now  endeavored 
to  induce  him  to  return  to  Aragon.  Juan's  concilia- 
tory messages  were  received  by  the  prince  with  un- 
feigned joy,  and  he  hastened  to  comply  with  his  fa- 
ther's wishes  that  he  should  return.  The  generous 
Sicilians,  during  the  residence  among  them  of  the 
prince,  had  voted  the  sum  of  25,000  florins  to  defray 
the  expenses  of  the  penniless  heir  of  so  many  king- 
doms, and  several  of  the  principal  lords  accompanied 
him  home.  The  city  of  Barcelona  had  prepared  magni- 
ficent fetes  to  celebrate  his  arrival,  but  conscious  of 
the  jealousy  such  a  reception  would  cause  to  his  step- 
mother, Charles  prudently  declined  these  honors,  and 
avoiding  Barcelona  proceeded  to  Igualada,  where  he 
was  received  by  the  king  and  queen  with  apparent 
kindness,  reciprocated  on  his  part  by  the  most  submis- 
sive demeanor  and  expressions  of  unfeigned  regret  for 
the  past  resistance  he  had  shown  to  them.  But  the 
mask  was  soon  thrown  aside  by  the  king,  who,  urged 
by  Juana,  openly  reproached  the  Catalans  for  doing  his 


158  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

son  honor  as  crown-prince,  and  in  the  Aragonese  Cortes 
he  convened  at  Fraga  to  receive  their  homage,  refused 
to  allow  of  their  swearing  allegiance  to  Charles  as  heir 
presumptive,  according  to  custom.  The  queen,  eager 
to  increase  the  dislike  of  Juan  to  his  son,  and  to  accom- 
plish the  ruin  of  the  latter,  communicated  to  the  king 
a  message  she  had  received  from  her  father,  the  admi- 
ral, purporting  that  the  prince  had  concluded  an  al- 
liance with  Castile,  agreeing  to  go  thither,  marry  the 
infanta  Isabella,  and  at  the  head  of  a  large  body  of 
Castilian  troops  return  to  dispossess  his  father  and 
assume  his  crown.  The  king,  prejudiced  as  he  was 
against  his  son,  still  refused  to  give  credit  to  a  tale 
where  the  authority  was  certainly  a  partial  one,  and 
as  such  scarcely  to  be  relied  on.  The  admiral  was  a 
disaffected  subject  of  the  king  of  Castile,  and  an  ene- 
my of  his  daughter's  step-son,  whom  that  sovereign 
sought  to  protect  and  support,  and  his  testimony  was 
greatly  doubted  by  Juan.  The  queen,  seeing  her  com- 
munication disregarded,  burst  into  tears,  loudly  and 
bitterly  lamenting  what  she  termed  the  blindness  of 
her  husband,  who  though  warned  of  his  danger  by  no 
less  a  friend  than  the  father  of  his  queen  and  the 
grandfather  of  his  children,  would  take  no  steps  to  save 
himself  and  his  family  from  ruin.  Juana  was  no 
mean  adept  in  the  art  of  persuasion,  her  influence 
over  her  aged  husband  was  unbounded,  and  combated 
in  his  heart  by  no  paternal  affection  for  Charles.  She 
therefore  soon  accomplished  her  object.  Juan  having 
determined  to  proceed  to  extremes  against  his  son, 


DOffA    JUANA    HENRIQUEZ.  159 

sent  him  orders  to  meet  him  at  Lerida  where  the  Ara- 
gonese  Cortes  was  in  session.  Charles,  overjoyed  at 
this,  as  he  hoped  his  father  was  about  to  allow  him  to 
be  proclaimed  heir,  hastened  to  obey,  but  on  his  arrival 
found  the  wily  monarch  had  arranged  matters  so  that 
the  Cortes  had  been  dissolved  a  few  hours  previous. 
The  ambassadors  from  Castile  who  were  with  the 
prince,  urging  him  to  fulfil  the  preconcerted  contract 
with  Isabel,  at  the  time  he  received  his  father's  mes- 
sage, strongly  advised  him  against  obeying  it,  but  he 
was  not  to  be  dissuaded.  When  he  came  into  his 
father's  presence  the  latter  allowed  him  to  kiss  his 
hand,  but  ordered  his  immediate  arrest.  The  prince 
astounded  at  the  treachery  broke  forth  into  eloquent 
remonstrations  and  expostulations,  but  to  no  effect. 
The  news  spread  through  the  town  instantly,  and,  an 
unforeseen  circumstance,  which  with  all  his  cunning 
the  king  had  overlooked,  overturned  all  his  well  de- 
vised schemes.  The  deputies  were  still  in  Lerida,  and, 
remembering  the  privilege  that  allowed  the  Cortes  to 
prolong  its  session  for  an  indefinite  period  if  reas- 
sembled within  six  hours  after  its  dissolution,  that  pe- 
riod not  having  expired,  immediately  met  and  pro- 
ceeded to  take  measures  in  the  prince's  behalf.  The 
deputation  of  Aragon  and  a  delegation  from  the  coun- 
cil of  Barcelona  sent  an  embassy  to  Juan  inquiring  his 
reasons  for  thus  proceeding  against  his  son.  Juan, 
however,  would  give  no  positive  answer,  merely  hint- 
ing at  a  plot  having  been  formed  by  the  prince  against 
him,  and  intimating  that  he  himself  would  punish  the 


160  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

conspirator  without  requiring  their  advice.  This  eva- 
sive reply  caused  a  ferment  throughout  the  nation. 
The  queen's  hatred  to  Charles  was  well  known,  and  it 
was  suspected  she  would  hesitate  at  no  measures  that 
would  rid  her  of  the  obnoxious  prince  who  stood  be- 
tween her  son  and  the  throne. 

Besides  the  motives  that  already  prompted  her 
to  ruin  Charles,  the  latter  feeling  how  little  reli- 
ance could  be  placed  on  his  father's  good  faith,  had 
accepted  the  proposal  made  him  by  Henry  IV.,  of  his 
sister's  hand,  hoping  by  this  marriage  with  Isabel  to 
secure  a  strong  ally  in  the  Castilian  king,  who  was 
moreover  well  inclined  towards  him.  This  project  was 
exceedingly  galling  to  the  queen,  whose  darling  plan 
was  to  marry  her  own  son  to  the  infanta,  and,  to  cut 
short  all  interference  she  hastened  the  catastrophe  of 
Charles's  fate.  But  she  found  more  difficulty  in  effecting 
her  purpose  than  she  had  anticipated.  The  indignant 
Catalans  rose  en  mass?.,  and  an  army  was  formed  that 
was  commanded  by  men  of  the  first  rank.  The  gov- 
ernor of  Barcelona,  a  partisan  of  the  king,  was  thrown 
into  prison,  a  large  body  of  men  hastened  to  Lerida  to 
seize  the  royal  family,  and  the  king,  though  warned  of 
the  danger,  barely  escaped  falling  into  the  hands  of 
his  infuriated  subjects.  His  coolness  and  presence  of 
mind  alone  saved  him ;  for,  having  ordered  the  eve- 
ning repast  to  be  prepared  as  usual,  he  took  horse  at 
dusk,  with  one  or  two  followers,  taking  the  road  to 
Fraga  in  Aragon.  He  had  scarcely  quitted  Lerida, 
when  the  rebels  entered  it.  They  broke  into  the 


DOSfA    JUANA    HENRIQUEZ.  161 

palace,  searching  every  apartment,  and  thrusting  their 
swords  through  the  hangings  and  into  the  beds,  in 
their  determined  rage,  and  fear  lest  the  king  should  lie 
there  concealed  and  thus  escape  them.  The  orga- 
nized army  of  the  Catalans  pursued  the  monarch  to 
Fraga,  and  entered  that  town  while  the  royal  family, 
and  the  Aragonese  Cortes  assembled  there  made  their 
escape  to  Saragossa.  Meanwhile  Prince  Charles  was 
kept  in  close  confinement  in  the  impregnable  strong- 
hold of  Morella,  on  the  borders  of  Valencia.  The 
King  of  Castile,  indignant  at  the  treatment  of  his 
friend,  sent  a  body  of  1,500  horse  to  the  aid  of  the 
Catalans,  and  the  Castilian  troops,  entering  Aragon, 
ravaged  the  country  through  which  they  passed.  The 
insurrection  spread  throughout  Aragon,  Valencia,  Na- 
varre, Sicily  and  Sardinia,  and  the  king  seeing  all 
resistance  vain  to  oppose  the  tide  of  public  opinion  that 
threatened  to  hurl  him  from  his  throne,  and  overwhelm 
the  objects  of  his  love  with  irremediable  ruin,  at  length 
decided  on  restoring  the  prince  to  liberty.  To  allay  the 
hate  of  the  people  to  the  queen,  he  made  proclamation 
that  he  pardoned  his  son  at  the  earnest  request  of 
Juana,  and  the  latter  accompanying  the  prince,  having 
met  the  Catalans  near  Villa  Franca,  delivered  him  into 
their  hands,  but  was  told  that  she  could  not  be  allowed 
to  proceed  to  Barcelona  with  him,  as  she  had  intended, 
and  was  forced  to  return  to  Saragossa.  Charles  was 
received  with  the  most  extravagant  demonstrations  of 
joy  in  Barcelona,  but  the  hapless  prince  was  not  des- 
tined to  enjoy  long  the  enviable  position  in  which  the 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

enthusiastic  love  of  the  people  had  placed  him.  From 
his  prison  Charles  brought  the  germs  of  the  disease 
that  baffling  the  skill  of  the  leeches,  soon  after  ter- 
minated his  existence.  The  war,  in  the  meantime, 
continued  in  Navarre  with  unabated  violence,  and 
great  success  on  the  part  of  the  adherents  of  the 
prince,  who  were  assisted  by  the  co-operation  of  Cas- 
tilian  forces.  The  Catalans,  it  is  true,  returned  to 
their  allegiance,  but  not  until  John  had  purchased  it 
by  submitting  to  the  most  humiliating  conditions. 
The  queen,  to  whom  John  had  confided  the  negotia- 
tion of  these  conditions,  vainly  attempted  to  enter 
Barcelona,  which  refused  to  receive  her ;  and,  on  at- 
tempting to  pass  through  Tarraga,  where  she  purposed 
to  stop  and  dine,  that  town  closed  its  gates  against  her, 
the  bells  being  rung  at  her  approach,  as  was  the  cus- 
tom on  the  appearance  of  an  enemy,  or  to  order  the 
pursuit  of  a  criminal.  The  Catalans,  among  other 
conditions,  exacted  that  the  prince  should  be  named 
Lieutenant-G-eneral  of  Catalonia,  and  that  John  should 
never  presume  to  enter  that  province  without  pre- 
viously obtaining  the  consent  of  the  inhabitants.  Bit- 
ter as  were  these  conditions,  the  king,  attacked  on  all 
sides,  was  compelled  to  accede  to  them,  and  the  queen 
signed  them  in  his  name.  The  marriage  between  Isa- 
bel and  Charles  was,  notwithstanding  the  disparity  of 
their  ages — the  prince  being  in  his  forty-first  year,  and 
the  princess  in  her  thirteenth — about  to  be  concluded, 
when  he  was  carried  off  by  the  fever,  that  had  been 
wearing  him  away  since  his  release.  Many  authors 


DOSfA    JUANA    HENRIQUEZ.  163 

hesitate  not  to  affirm  that  his  death  was  attrib- 
utable to  poison  administered  by  Juana's  orders  in 
Morella,  and  if  we  consider  the  hatred  she  bore  him, 
her  insatiable  ambition,  and  the  obstacle  he  was 
to  the  advancement  of  her  own  son,  there  cer- 
tainly seems  a  great  foundation  for  suspicion  of  foul 
play.  The  death  of  Charles  took  place  on  the  23d  of 
September,  1461,  in  the  seventh  month  after  his  re- 
lease, and  this  event,  though  it  left  the  path  to  the  throne 
free  to  the  son  of  Juana,  occasioned  so  violent  a  commo- 
tion throughout  the  nation  as  greatly  to  increase  the 
manifold  anxieties  of  the  king  and  his  consort.  The 
untoward  fate  of  their  beloved  prince  was  loudly 
lamented,  and  his  many  noble  qualities  forming  a 
striking  contrast  to  the  gloomy,  perfidious  character 
of  his  father,  exalting  him  in  the  eyes  of  the  admiring 
but  ignorant  lower  classes,  caused  him  to  be  worship- 
ped as  a  saint.  During  his  illness,  continual  prayers, 
sacrifices,  masses,  and  extravagant  vows  were  offered 
to  obtain  of  Heaven  his  restoration  to  health,  and  after 
his  death,  miracles  were  said  to  be  performed  at  his 
tomb.  The  haste  with  which  the  king  caused  his  son 
Fernando  to  be  sworn  heir  in  Aragon,  within  a  fort- 
night of  the  death  of  Charles,  contrasted  also  glaring- 
ly with  the  opposition  he  had  made  to  that  ceremony 
being  performed  in  the  case  of  the  latter.  The  queen 
then  accompanied  her  son  to  Catalonia,  in  order  to 
obtain  the  like  homage  from  that  province.  Here, 
though  apparently  all  was  quiet,  the  minds  of  the 
inhabitants  were  in  a  state  of  ferment  that  boded 


164  THE    QUEENS    OP    SPAIN. 

no  good.  The  ghost  of  the  unfortunate  prince  was 
said  to  walk  through  the  streets  of  Barcelona,  de- 
manding vengeance  on  his  murderers,  and  the  ex- 
asperation of  the  people  rose  to  such  a  height  that 
Juana  was  forced  to  withdraw  from  the  capital, 
though,  with  the  matchless  ability  that  character- 
ized her,  she  had  during  her  stay  managed  to  ob- 
tain her  object  from  the  Assembly.  Juana  retir- 
ed with  her  son  and  a  few  adherents  to  the  fortified 
town  of  Grerona,  some  fifty  miles  from  Barcelona. 
Hither  she  was  pursued  by  the  insurgent  forces,  com- 
manded by  the  Conde  Pallas,  a  powerful  noble.  The 
town  was  besieged,  and  the  queen  and  her  son  com- 
pelled to  take  refuge  in  the  tower  of  the  cathedral. 
The  Catalans  were  so  much  opposed  to  Juan  and  his 
queen,  that  they  offered  to  the  king  of  Castile  the 
sovereignty  of  all  Juan's  dominions.  The  inhabitants 
of  Barcelona  proclaimed  Juan  and  Juana  public  foes 
and  murderers  of  the  Prince  of  Viana,  and  sent  an 
appeal  to  the  pope.  Blanche,  sister  and  heiress  of 
Prince  Charles,  was  made  the  means  of  procuring  for 
the  vexed  king  the  assistance  of  the  French  king, 
who  offered  troops  to  Juan  if  he  would  place  the 
princess  in  the  hands  of  her  sister,  the  Countess  of  Foix. 
The  object  of  this  was  to  prevent  Blanche  from  marry- 
ing again  and  thus  secure  the  inheritance  of  the  king- 
dom of  Navarre  to  the  Count  de  Foix  and  his  wife. 
(Vide  life  of  Blanche,  Queens  of  Navarre,  Vol.  II.) 
Juan  who  was  deterred  by  no  considerations  of  pa- 
rental affection  or  duty  towards  the  children  of  his 


DONA    JUANA    HENRIQUEZ.  165 

first  marriage,  readily  sacrificed  the  hapless  princess, 
and  was  compensated  by  the  immediate  assistance  of 
seven  hundred  French  lances.*  The  arrival  of  the 
French  force  was  most  opportune  for  Juan,  who  was 
reduced  to  the  greatest  straits  in  the  tower  of  Griro- 
nella.  The  insurgents  forcibly  entered  the  town,  but 
all  their  efforts  to  obtain  possession  of  the  persons 
of  Juana  and  her  son  were  vain.  Zurita  and  Abarca 
tell  us  five  thousand  balls  were  fired  at  the  castle  in 
one  day,  doubtless  a  mistake  or  an  exaggeration,  but, 
be  this  as  it  may,  the  assailants  spared  no  efforts  to  ac- 
complish their  object.  Wooden  towers,  of  the  height  of 
the  castle,  were  erected  and  surmounted  with  artillery, 
and  mines  were  run  under  the  castle,  by  which  the  ene- 
my having  penetrated,had  well  nigh  accomplished  their 
object.  But  the  little  force  within,  constantly  on  the 
alert,  perpetually  repulsed  the  besiegers  and  defeated 
their  designs.  The  queen,  with  the  cool  intrepidity 
that  formed  one  of  the  chief  traits  of  her  character,  un- 
dismayed on  her  own  account,  sought  only  to  ensure  the 
safety  of  her  son,  regardless  of  her  own.  Leading 
Ferdinand,  then  a  boy  of  ten  years  of  age,  by  the 
hand,  she  appealed  to  the  good  feelings  of  the  defend- 
ers of  the  castle,  and,  with  irresistible  eloquence,  con- 
fided him  to  their  loyalty  and  devotion,  and  expressed 
a  confidence  in  their  ultimate  success  that  perhaps 
she  was  far  from  feeling.  Without  the  slightest  emo- 
tion of  fear  she  visited  every  part  of  the  defences,  justi- 

*  These  seven  hundred  lances,  with  the  accompanying  archers 
and  artillery,  constituted  a  force  of  6000  horse. 


166  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

fying  the  surname  of  the  "Royal  Lioness,"  applied  to 
her  by  the  Spanish  historians. 

The  arrival  of  the  French  at  length  relieved  her 
anxiety,  and  the  insurgents  were  forced  to  raise  the 
siege.  The  inhabitants  of  Grerona,  who  had  forsaken 
the  queen's  cause  when  it  appeared  desperate,  now 
threw  themselves  on  the  mercy  of  her  whom,  when 
sore  pressed  by  enemies,  they  had  driven  from  among 
them,  and  compelled  to  take  refuge  in  the  tower ;  but 
the  joy  of  her  release  had  inclined  Juana  to  clemency, 
and  she  freely  forgave  them  their  former  defection. 
The  king,  with  an  activity  that  recalled  the  days  of 
his  youth,  assisted  by  his  French  allies,  and  many  of 
the  Catalan  nobles,  who,  prince  Charles  being  dead, 
preferred  their  own  rightful  sovereign  to  a  foreign 
monarch,  now  rapidly  reduced  many  important  places. 
The  king  of  Castile  being  of  too  indolent  a  nature  to 
accept  the  offer  the  Catalans  had  made  him,  they 
conferred  the  crown  on  Don  Pedro,  a  Portuguese  noble, 
and  a  descendant  of  the  royal  house  of  Barcelona. 
This  prince  had  neither  energy  nor  means  to  support 
himself  in  the  dignity ;  and  unloved  and  unlamented  by 
the  very  nation  that  had  called  him,  he  died  of  a  fever 
in  June  of  1466.  The  king  now  resolved  to  endeavor 
to  negotiate  with  the  insurgents,  but  with  the  obsti- 
nacy that  characterises  them,  the  Catalans  refused 
to  listen  to  his  overtures,  and  the  council  at  Bar- 
celona suspecting  two  of  the  chief  inhabitants  of 
the  city  of  inclining  to  the  king,  caused  them  to  be  ex- 
ecuted. The  despatches  brought  by  a  messenger  from 


DOSfA    JUANA    HENRIQUEZ.  167 

the  Cortes  of  Aragon  were  torn  to  pieces  before  his  face. 
The  crown  was  now  offered  to  Rene,  of  Anjou,  who, 
too  old  to  undertake  the  assertion  of  the  rights  thus 
given  him,  deputed  his  son  Juan,  Duke  of  Lorraine 
and  Calabria,  to  secure  the  prize.  This  gallant  cava- 
lier, a  warrior  from  his  youth  upwards,  endowed  with 
all  the  qualities  of  a  hero  of  romance,  was  well-fitted 
for  this  adventurous  enterprise.  His  known  prowess 
and  ability  as  a  leader  soon  brought  crowds  to  his 
standard,  and  he  commenced  his  perilous  campaign  at 
the  head  of  eight  thousand  men  well  armed  and 
equipped.  Luis  XL,  who  was  too  wily  openly  to  en- 
courage this  competitor  of  the  king  of  Aragon,  gave 
him  indirect  but  efficient  assistance,  by  allowing  a 
pass  through  Roussillon  into  the  north  of  Catalonia. 
This  new  and  violent  blow  had  well  nigh  staggered 
Juan,  who  was  just  beginning  to  regain  the  ascen- 
dancy. His  ally,  the  king  of  France,  failed  to  send  the 
promised  subsidies,  and  his  own  exhausted  treasury 
offered  no  resources  to  carry  on  the  war.  The  cruelty 
with  which  he  had  treated  two  of  his  children,  both  of 
whom  by  his  means  had  met  with  an  untimely  death, 
was  now  visited  on  him  by  the  unfilial  conduct  of  his 
third  child,  Leonor,  Countess  of  Foix,  who,  without 
consideration  for  the  straits  to  which  her  aged  father 
was  reduced,  demanded  and  prepared  to  wrest  from 
him  the  kingdom  of  Navarre,  the  inheritance  she  had 
so  ruthlessly  purchased  with  the  murder  of  an  inno- 
cent sister.  Worse  than  all  these  evils  was  the  per- 
sonal misfortune  that  at  this  period  fell  on  Juan.  His 


168  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

sight,  which  had  been  greatly  injured  by  the  exposure 
and  privations  he  had  endured  during  the  protracted 
winter  siege  of  Amposta,  now  utterly  failed  him,  and 
the  blind,  and  nearly  octogenarian  monarch,  hated 
by  the  majority  of  his  subjects,  deserted  at  his  utmost 
need  by  his  allies,  seemed  on  the  eve  of  being  hurled 
from  the  throne  he  had  sought  to  consolidate  at  the 
cost  of  those  who  should  have  been  as  dear  as  they 
were  near  to  him.  But  the  energy  and  resolution 
that  had  actuated  him  in  his  youth,  still  remained  un- 
impaired in  his  advanced  years,  and  Juan,  in  January  of 
1467,  prepared  to  continue  the  war  on  the  frontiers  of 
Barcelona  with  as  much  alacrity  as  ever.  One  friend, 
too,  was  left  him,  whose  dauntless  spirit  was  equal 
to  the  task  of  extricating  him  from  the  toils  into  which 
her  own  ambition  had  precipitated  him.  Juana,  spar- 
ing no  efforts  by  which  she  could  procure  assistance  for 
her  husband,  proceeded  to  Saragossa  to  preside  over  the 
Aragonese  Cortes  held  there,  and  obtained  from  them  a 
body  of  five  hundred  horse  with  pay  for  nine  months 
At  the  head  of  this  force,  and  accompanied  by  her  son 
Ferdinand,  she  crossed  by  water  to  the  eastern  shore 
of  Catalonia,  where  she  laid  siege  to  Rosas.  The  bet- 
ter to  facilitate  her  designs  on  this  place,  by  cutting 
off  its  resources,  Juana  sent  detachments  to  seize  on 
the  surrounding  castles.  The  Duke  of  Lorraine 
having,  with  a  view  of  causing  a  diversion,  laid  siege 
to  Gferona,  the  queen  promptly  introduced  succors  of 
men  and  provisions  into  the  city,  though  she  thereby 
greatly  impoverished  her  own  weak  force.  The  stout 


DOftA    JUANA    HENRIQUEZ.  169 

resistance  made  by  the  governor  of  Gferona  having 
occasioned  great  loss  of  men  to  the  duke,  he  retreated 
to  Barcelona. 

During  the  siege  of  G-erona,  young  Ferdinand, 
then  15  years  of  age,  having,  in  the  heat  of  his 
youthful  ardor,  advanced  too  far  in  one  of  the  sallies 
made  by  the  besieged,  was  well  nigh  captured  by 
the  enemy,  but  was  saved  by  the  devotion  of  his 
attendants, — several  throwing  themselves  between 
him  and  his  pursuers,  and  facilitating  his  escape  at 
the  cost  of  their  own  liberty.  Among  these  faithful 
adherents  was  the  brave  and  noble  Don  Rodrigo  de 
Rebolledo,  whose  military  fame  was  such,  that  after 
several  years  captivity,  his  freedom  was  valued  at  the 
rate  of  10,000  florins. 

Notwithstanding  the  strenuous  efforts  of  Juan  and 
his  warlike  queen,  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  continued 
his  advances ,  and  possessed  himself  of  the  fertile  dis- 
trict of  Ampurdan.  In  Barcelona  his  popularity  was 
equal  to  that  which  had  been  enjoyed  by  the  ill-fated 
Prince  of  Viana,  his  princely  bearing,  noble  qualities 
and  affable,  courteous  demeanor,  securing  him  the 
good  will  of  all  classes.  No  efforts  were  spared  to 
secure  him  the  crown  which  they  had  bestowed  on 
him.  The  ladies  pawned  their  jewels  to  assist  in  de- 
fraying the  expenses  of  the  war,  and  when  he  rode 
through  the  streets  his  progress  was  retarded  by  the 
enthusiastic  demonstrations  of  affection  of  the  crowds 
that  always  surrounded  him.  In  the  meanwhile  the 
indefatigable  Juana.  insensible  to  fatigue,  notwithstand- 
8 


170  THE    C|UEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

ing  the  delicate  state  of  her  health,  set  out  for  Exija,  in 
order  to  conciliate  and  pacify  the  Countess  of  Foix, 
and  in  the  interview  that  took  place  between  these 
ladies,  were  settled  all  the  points  of  difference  that 
had  added  so  much  to  the  embarrassments  of  Juan. 
The  queen  and  princess  entered  into  the  solemn 
league,  which  kings  and  princes  entered  into  for  the 
mutual  defence  of  their  dominions,  taking  the  knightly 
and  military  oath  of  being  friends  of  each  other's  friends, 
enemies  of  each  other's  enemies,  against  all  and  every 
person  in  the  world  without  exception ;  the  infanta,  bind- 
ing herself  to  lend  assistance  to  the  utmost  of  her  power, 
for  the  defence  of  her  brother  Ferdinand's  rights  in  Ara- 
gon,  Sicily,  &c.  And  the  queen  on  her  side,  swore 
to  defend  the  rights  of  Leonora  to  the  kingdom  of 
Navarre.  This  unparalleled  instance  of  this  military 
oath  being  taken  by  two  princesses,  took  place  on  the 
9th  of  June  of  this  year,  and  was  witnessed  by  the  Arch- 
bishops of  Saragossa,  and  the  Bishop  of  Pamplona 
By  this  treaty,  the  princess  engaged  to  wait  until  the 
decease  of  her  father  for  the  inheritance  of  Navarre,  of 
which  the  queen  ensured  her  the  pacific  and  undisput- 
ed succession.  Thus  the  old  queen's  talent  for  diplo- 
macy removed  one  of  the  king's  greatest  difficulties. 
But  the  day  was  approaching  when  Juan  was  to  suffer 
the  severest  blow  of  all,  in  the  loss  of  this  faithful  and 
efficient  consort.  In  the  winter  of  the  following  year, 
Juana  fell  a  victim  to  the  painful  disease  that  had 
long  been  undermining  her  constitution,  had  occa- 
sioned sufferings  that  would  have  prostrated  most 


DOSA    JUANA    HENRIQUEZ.  171 

of  her  sex  on  a  bed  of  sickness.  But  her  spirit 
was  cast  in  no  common  mould,  and  subduing  all  mani- 
festation of  pain,  she  continued  to  the  last  to  endure 
fatigues  and  perils  with  a  fortitude  more  than  manly. 
Her  death  was  a  great  calamity  to  Juan,  for  though 
her  hatred  to  Charles  had  involved  him  in  all  his  diffi- 
culties, her  uncommon  talents  and  fertile  genius  af- 
forded him  immense  resources  whereby  to  overcome 
them.  Of  the  four  children  to  whom  Juana  had  given 
birth,  Ferdinand,  Juana,  Leonor,  and  Marina,  the  two 
first  alone  survived  her.  The  queen  died  of  cancer, 
on  the  13th  of  February,  1468,  and  in  the  following 
year,  as  though  to  compensate  in  a  measure  the  loss 
of  this  invaluable  friend,  the  king's  enemy  and  com- 
petitor the  gallant  young  Duke  of  Lorraine,  expired 
in  Barcelona,  to  the  great  sorrow  of  the  Catalans. 

It  is  reported  that  on  her  death-bed,  the  queen  ex- 
claimed several  times,  "  My  son,  my  son,  how  dear  thou 
hast  cost  me !"  and  though  the  king  is  said  by  some 
authors  to  have  attended  her  bed  of  death  with  affec- 
tionate solicitude,  others  affirm  that  having  been  told 
that  she  acknowledged  herself  guilty  of  causing  the 
death  of  his  son,  he  retired  to  his  chamber,  refusing  to 
leave  it  or  see  her  until  she  had  expired.  It  is  not  very 
probable  that  Juan,  who  had  persecuted  his  son  to  his 
last  day  and  given  his  daughter  up  to  her  mortal  foes, 
would  feel  so  much  anger  at  the  conduct  of  his  ac- 
complice in  these  iniquitous  proceedings.  Juana  was 
buried,  in  accordance  with  her  own  request,  in  the 
monastery  of  Poblete. 


172  THE    QUKKNS    OF    SPAIN. 

Juan  was  also  fortunate  enough  to  recover,  at  his 
advanced  age,  the  use  of  his  eye-sight,  a  Jewish 
physician  having  successfully  performed  the  then  very 
unusual  operation  of  couching  both  his  eyes.  Thus 
was  this  ancient  warrior  enabled  once  more  to  super- 
intend in  person  the  defence  of  his  dominions.  The 
war  was  carried  on  with  varied  success  in  Catalonia, 
until  the  year  1472,  when  the  king  made  his  entry  in 
Barcelona,  on  the  22d  of  December,  and  in  the  great 
palace  swore  to  respect  the  constitution  and  laws  of 
Catalonia.  But  the  submission  of  the  Catalans  did 
not  bring  with  it  the  cessation  of  war  in  Juan's  do- 
minions. The  pretensions  of  France  to  the  county  of 
Roussillon  occasioned  a  long  and  destructive  warfare, 
that  occupied  Juan  to  the  end  of  his  days.  Juan  died 
at  the  age  of  eighty -two,  in  Barcelona,  on  the  19th  of 
January,  1474,  having  reigned  in  Navarre  fifty-three 
years,  and  in  Aragon  twenty. 


QUEENS  OF  LEON  AND  CASTILE; 


1034  TO  1475 


IK)  (IF  A  V^'vvJ  ^ - :  ' 


QUEENS  OF  LEON  AND  CASTILE, 


DONA  SANCHA. 

dUEEN  OF  CASTILE,  1034,  AND  THIRD  dUEEN  OF  LEON 
IN  HER  OWN  RIGHT,  1037. 

REIGN  OF  FERDINAND  THE  GREAT. 

DONA  SANCHA,  daughter  of  Don  Alfonso  first  king  of 
Leon  by  his  wife,  Dona  Elvira,  was  first  contracted  to 
the  young  Earl  of  Castile,  as  related  in  the  life  of 
Dona  Teresa  of  Leon.  She  subsequently  married,  in 
1030,  Ferdinand,  second  son  of  Don  Sancho,  king  of 
Navarre.  This  prince  having  inherited  in  1034,  from 
his  mother,  the  Condado  of  Castile,  then  first  erected 
into  a  kingdom,  became  also  king  of  Leon  in  1037,  by 
the  death  of  his  brother-in-law,  Bermudo  III.,  Sancha 
being  the  sole  heiress  of  the  crown.  Before  her  ac- 
cession to  the  throne  of  Leon,  Sancha  had  given  birth 
to  three  children,  Urraca,  Sancha  who  succeeded  his 
father,  and  Elvira,  who,  long  after  her  father's  death, 
was  married  by  her  brother  Alfonso  to  the  Conde  de 
Cabra.  In  1035,  Sancha  gave  birth  to  Alfonso,  who 
also  ascended  the  throne,  and  some  time  after  to  Gar- 


176  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

cia,  the  youngest.  The  education  bestowed  on  these 
princes  by  their  parents  is  highly  extolled  by  the  an- 
cient chronicles  of  those  times.  Ferdinand,  who  from 
his  many  victories  over  the  Moors,  and  his  numerous 
personal  exploits,  was  surnamed  the  Great,  had  done 
well  had  he  stained  his  sword  with  the  blood  of  Infi- 
dels alone  ;  but  having  had  some  unhappy  altercations 
with  his  elder  brother  Garcia  king  of  Navarre,  who 
beheld  with  jealous  eyes  the  superior  power  of  the 
younger,  the  troops  of  the  two  sovereigns  met,  at  Ata- 
puerca,  a  village  within  four  leagues  of  Burgos,  and 
after  a  fierce  engagement  Garcia  was  slain.  This 
battle  was  fought  in  1054.  Ferdinand,  shocked  at  the 
unhappy  result  of  the  quarrel,  bitterly  lamented  the 
death  of  his  brother,  and  ordered  his  body  to  be  restored 
to  the  Navarrese,  that  they  might  return  with  it  to  Na- 
varre, and  inter  it  with  regal  honors.  In  the  latter 
part  of  the  king's  reign,  taking  advantage  of  his  ad- 
vanced age,  and  the  poverty  of  the  exchequer,  the 
tributary  Moors,  formerly  subdued  by  Ferdinand,  rose 
on  every  side,  but  more  especially  in  the  kingdom  of 
Toledo,  among  the  Celtiberie  (inhabitants  of  a  certain 
part  of  Aragon).  In  this  emergency,  Dona  Sancha 
gave  proof  of  her  patriotic  and  religious  spirit,  sac- 
rificing all  she  possessed  in  money,  plate  and  jewels, 
to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  war.  This  timely  sup- 
ply so  encouraged  the  king,  by  enabling  him  to  raise 
a  powerful  army,  that  he  attacked  the  Moors  near  the 
Ebro,  overthrew  thorn,  and  advancing  as  far  as  Cata- 
lonia and  Valencia,  returned  thence  with  a  large  booty. 


DONA    SANCHA  177 

The  same  success  attended  him  against  the  Moors  of  the 
kingdom  of  Toledo,  whom  he  obliged  to  take  oath,  that 
they  would  punctually  pay  the  tribute  that  Ferdinand 
had  formerly  exacted  from  them.  Having  returned  tri- 
umphantly from  this  expedition,  Ferdinand  died  shortly 
after,  in  the  year  1067.  Dona  Sancha  survived  her 
husband  two  years,  and  was  buried  by  his  side  in  the 
church  of  St.  Isidorus,  in  the  city  of  Leon.  During 
this  reign,  the  renowned  soldier,  Don  Rodrigo  del  Bi- 
var,  laid  the  foundation  of  that  fame  that  has  rendered 
him  the  most  celebrated  of  Spain's  numerous  heroes. 
Don  Fernando  imitated  the  evil  example  set  him  by 
his  father,  in  subdividing  the  kingdom  at  his  death 
among  his  children,  and  this  error  of  judgment  occa- 
sioned new  and  violent  civil  wars,  that  distracted 
the  kingdom  until  again  united  under  the  sway  of  his 
second  son,  Alfonso.  The  king's  will  gave  to  Sancho, 
Castile ;  to  Alfonso,  the  kingdom  of  Leon,  the  territory 
of  Campo  and  some  towns  in  Gralicia ;  to  Gfarcia,  the 
youngest  son,  the  remainder  of  Gralicia  and  as  much 
of  Portugal  as  had  been  taken  from  the  Moors.  To 
his  daughter,  Urraca,  he  gave  the  town  of  Zamora, 
and  to  Elvira  that  of  Toro.  This  king  has  been 
celebrated  for  his  many  good  and  noble  qualities,  and 
his  queen  no  less  so,  being  described  as  "a  right  excel- 
lent lady,  of  good  understanding,  right  loving  to  her 
lord,  whom  she  ever  counselled  Arell,  being  herself 
called  the  mirror  of  his  kingdom  and  the  friend  of 
widows  and  orphans." 


178  THE    QUEENS    CF    SPAIN. 

INES, 

CONSTANCIA, 

ZAIDA,  OR  ISABEL, 

BERTA  OF  TUSCANY, 

ELIZABETH   OF  FRANCE, 

BEATRIX. 

REIGN  OF    ALFONSO    VI. 


THE  beneficial  influence  of  Dona  Sancha  maintained 
a  show  of  harmony  among  her  children  during  the 
short  period  that  elapsed  between  the  death  of  Fer- 
dinand and  her  son,  but  the  rancor  occasioned  by  the 
division  of  the  kingdom,  which  he  considered  should 
have  been  united  under  the  eldest  son,  could  not  long 
be  suppressed  by  Sancho,  and,  in  the  fourth  year  of  his 
reign,  he  attacked,  defeated  and  imprisoned  his  brother 
Grarcia,  depriving  him  of  the  domains  assigned  him 
by  his  father.  Not  content  with  this  increase  of  power, 
the  insatiable  ambition  of  Sancho,  aiming  at  the 
recovery  of  all  his  father's  dominions,  now  waged  war 
against  Alfonso,  the  king  of  Leon,  and,  though  the 
first  day,  the  tide  of  battle  was  against  the  Oastilians 
who  were  routed,  the  courage  and  perseverance  of 
Don  Rodrigo  del  Bivar  rallied  them  on  the  second,  and 
the  Leonese  in  their  turn  were  defeated,  Alfonso  him- 
self being  taken  a  prisoner  to  Burgos.  To  secure  his 
life,  Alfonso  consented  to  take  orders  in  the  monastery 
of  Sahagun  ;  but  a  monastic  life  was  ill  suited  to  the 
warlike  spirit  of  one  whose  youth  had  been  spent  in 


INKS,    CONSTANCIA,    ETC.  179 

the  martial  exercises  of  the  chivalry  of  that  age,  and, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  his  sister  Urraca,  by 
whom  he  was  greatly  beloved,  Alfonso  escaped  and 
took  refuge  at  the  court  of  Almenon,  the  Moorish  king 
of  Toledo.  Here  he  remained  some  time,  being 
treated  with  great  courtesy  and  hospitality,  by  Al- 
menon, to  whom  he  greatly  endeared  himself,  by 
his  winning  manners.  Meanwhile  Sancho  caused 
himself  to  be  crowned  king  of  his  brother's  domains 
in  Leon.  His  reign  was,  however,  of  short  duration, 
for  in  the  year  1073,  having  laid  siege  to  the  city  of 
Zamora,  the  inhabitants,  loyal  adherents  of  their  sove- 
reign lady,  Dona  Urraca,  with  her  consent,  chose  for 
their  captain  Don  Gfonzalo  Arias,  a  brave  commander, 
who  had  been  her  tutor,  and  Sancho  met  with  a 
resistance,  that  proved  fatal  to  him  in  the  end.  After 
many  encounters  between  the  townsmen  and  besieg- 
ers, the  king  was  mortally  wounded  by  a  traitor,  who, 
under  pretence  of  communicating  some  piece  of  intel- 
ligence to  the  king,  struck  him  with  a  lance,  and 
escaped  into  the  city.  Thus  ended  the  reign  of  San- 
cho, surnamed  the  Brave,  on  the  13th  Oct.,  1073. 

The  death  of  the  king  occasioned  the  utmost  confu- 
sion in  the  camp,  the  majority  of  the  troops  disbanding 
and  returning  to  their  homes.  The  Castilians  alono 
remained  before  the  town.  The  body  of  the  king  hav- 
ing been  buried  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Salvador  of  Ona, 
by  a  number  of  his  nobles  and  gentlemen,  on  their  re-* 
turn  to  the  camp  they  challenged  the  men  of  Zamora, 
through  Don  Diego  Ordonez,  Count  of  Lara,  to 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

mortal  combat,  charging  them  with  having  sent  the 
assassin,  Velido  Dolphos,  to  murder  the  king.  Ac- 
cording to  the  customs  of  that  age,  if  a  metropolitan 
city  or  a  bishopric  was  challenged,  the  challenger 
was  bound  to  combat  with  five  knights  in  succes- 
sion, being  allowed,  however,  to  change  his  horse 
and  arms  in  the  intervals,  and  refresh  himself  with 
food  and  wine.  Though  Zamora  was  not  a  bishop- 
ric, the  brave  Count  of  Lara  allowed  of  five  cham- 
pions being  opposed  to  him,  and  vanquished  suc- 
cessively Don  Pedro,  Don  Diego,  and  Don  Rodrigo, 
the  three  sons  of  the  governor,  Don  Gronzalo  Arias. 
The  judges  of  the  lists  here  ordered  that  the  com- 
bat should  proceed  no  farther,  though  the  Count  in- 
sisted on  continuing  it  until  he  had  fought  with  five 
knights,  as  they  refused  to  decide  the  question  of  the 
justice  of  the  accusation.  Meanwhile,  the  Infanta 
Urraca,  having  sent  messengers  to  Alfonso,  informing 
him  of  the  death  of  his  brother,  and  urging  his  instant 
return,  the  prince  took  his  leave  of  the  Moorish  sove- 
reign, and,  loaded  with  presents  by  his  generous  host, 
hastened  to  Zamora.  Sancho,  who  had  never  married, 
having  no  son,  Alfonso  was  unanimously  acknow- 
ledged heir  to  the  kingdoms  of  Leon  and  Castile, 
though  the  Castilians  insisted,  ere  he  was  crowned, 
that  he  should  take  an  oath  that  he  had  had  no  share 
in  the  murder  of  his  brother.  This  Alfonso  readily 
consented  to  do,  the  famous  Rodrigo  del  Vivar  being, 
however,  the  only  chieftain  who  dared  administer  the 
oath  to  the  new  sovereign. 


INKS,    CONSTANCIA,    ETC.  181 

Of  Ines,  the  first  wife  of  Alfonso,  all  we  know  is 
the  name,  and  that  she  died  in  the  second  year  of  his 
reign,  after  his  restoration. 

Constance,  the  second  wife  of  Alfonso,  was  the 
daughter  of  Robert,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  and  his  wife, 
Ermengarde.  Constance  became  the  mother  of  Dona 
Urraca,  who  inherited  her  father's  crown.  Though 
mindful  of  the  generous  manner  in  which  he  had  been 
harbored  by  the  king  of  Toledo,  Alfonso  maintained 
peace  with  Almenon,  and  his  son  and  successor,  His- 
sem,  assisting  the  former,  unsolicited,  with  a  large 
body  of  troops  against  his  enemy,  the  king  of  Cordova. 
On  the  accession  of  the  second  son,  Hiaya,  this  friend- 
ship and  alliance  between  the  Christians  and  Moors 
ceased  entirely.  Hiaya,  by  his  tyrannical  conduct, 
having  incurred  the  odium  of  a  large  portion  of  his 
subjects,  and  the  enmity  of  the  other  princes  of  Spain, 
was  finally  besieged  by  Alfonso,  in  1083,*  and  expelled 
from  his  dominions.  On  the  taking  of  Toledo,  the 
queen  is  said  to  have  incurred  her  husband's  displea- 
sure in  the  following  instance :  the  town  having,  after 
an  obstinate  resistance,  submitted  to  Alfonso,  among 
other  conditions,  it  was  stipulated  in  the  capitulation, 
that  the  Moors  should  retain  in  their  possession  the  chief 
mosque.  No  danger  was  to  have  been  apprehended, 
though  the  Moorish  inhabitants  far  outnumbered  the 
Christians,  had  not  the  rashness  of  the  queen,  and  of 

*  The  siege  of  Toledo  lasted  two  years.  This  ancient  capital  of 
the  Goths  was  entered  by  the  victorious  Alfonso,  May  25,  1085, 
after  it  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the  Moors  upwards  of  374  years. 


182  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

the  new  primate,  Don  Bernardo,  who  had  remained  in 
Toledo  with  a  small  garrison,  exposed  the  city  to  fall 
once  more  into  the  power  of  its  former  possessors. 
That  the  largest  and  most  beautiful  building  should 
remain  and  be  still  appropriated  to  the  worship  of  the 
prophet,  was  a  subject  of  great  discontent  to  the  lady 
and  the  priest,  and,  their  religious  zeal  blinding  them 
to  the  consequences,  they  resolved  on  gaining  posses- 
sion of  it  by  surprise.  Having  entered  it  by  night, 
they  caused  everything  pertaining  to  the  Moors  to  be 
cast  out,  erected  altars,  hung  bells,  and  at  daybreak 
summoned  the  Christian  inhabitants  to  mass.  The 
Moors,  though  justly  incensed  at  this  perfidious  viola- 
tion of  the  treaty,  confiding  in  the  known  justice  of 
the  king,  refrained  from  taking  vengeance  by  their 
own  hands,  though  they  might  easily  have  extermi- 
nated the  small  band  of  Castilians.  Nor  was  their 
reliance  on  Alfonso  ill-founded,  for  the  king  no  sooner 
heard  the  news  of  this  unprovoked  act  of  aggression, 
than  he  hastened  to  Toledo,  resolved  to  punish  se- 
verely the  perpetrators.  Apprised  of  the  sovereign's 
angry  determination,  the  Christians  sallied  forth  to 
meet  him,  attired  in  mourning  garments,  and  pros- 
trating themselves  at  his  feet,  implored  mercy  for 
the  thoughtless  offenders.  Their  prayers  had  no  influ- 
ence, but  when  all  hope  of  softening  the  king's  inflex- 
ibility had  vanished,  it  was  revived  from  an  unex- 
pected quarter.  The  Moors,  pleased  with  the  readi- 
ness manifested  by  Alfonso  to  right  their  wrongs,  and 
doubtless  fearing  lest  his  present  severity,  by  exaspe- 


ZAIDA,    OR    ISABEL,    ETC.  183 

rating  the  Christians,  might  prove  fatal  to  them  at 
some  future  period,  now  urged  the  king  to  waive  all 
resentment  and  forgive  the  delinquents.  This  petition 
coming  from  such  a  quarter  so  much  gratified  the 
sovereign  that  he  not  only  readily  granted  it,  but 
ordered  that  that  day  should  be  ever  afterwards  com- 
memorated, under  the  name  of  our  Lady  of  Peace, 
and  promised  he  would  ever  be  favorable  to  them.* 
Constance  died  shortly  after,  and  was  buried  in  Leon. 
After  the  death  of  Constance,  Zaida,  a  Moorish 
princess,  daughter  of  Benabet,  king  of  Seville,  be- 
came, according  to  some  authors,  the  wife  of  Alfonso. 
Zaida  is  said  to  have  been  induced  to  adopt  the  Chris- 
tian faith  by  a  dream,  in  which  St.  Isidorus  appeared 
to  her  and  persuaded  her  to  become  a  convert.  Her 
father,  whom  she  acquainted  with  the  resolution  she 
had  formed,  made  no  opposition  to  her  wishes,  but, 
fearful  that  his  approbation  might  excite  discontent 
among  his  subjects,  agreed  that  she  should  undertake 
an  excursion  to  a  place  from  whence  Prince  Alfonso, 
second  son  of  the  reigning  king  of  Castile,  could  assist 
her  to  escape  to  Leon,  This  scheme  having  been  suc- 
cessfully executed,  the  princess  was  received  with  all 
kindness  by  the  Christian  sovereigns,  instructed  in  the 

*  This  incident  is  related  by  Garibay  as  having  occurred  in  the 
life  of  queen  Beatrix,  but  Mariana  and  others  relate  it  of  Con- 
stance. Garibay  also  calls  the  second  of  Alfonso's  queens  Bea- 
trix, and  the  fourth  Constance.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  say 
which  is  the  correct  order  in  which  these  six  queens  should  be 
given,  where  there  is  so  great  a  diversity  of  opinion. 


184  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

dogmas  of  her  new  creed,  and  baptized  Isabel,  or,  as 
some  assert,  Mary.  Zaida  subsequently  became  the 
third  wife  of  Alfonso,  though  Pelagius,  bishop  of 
Oviedo,  denies  her  ever  marrying  that  sovereign,"  and 
asserts  she  was  only  his  mistress.  Of  Zaida  was  born 
Don  Sancho,  who  died  in  battle  when  but  eleven  years 
of  age.  Nothing  can  be  more  characteristic  of  the 
warlike  spirit  of  those  times,  than  the  death  of  this, 
the  king's  only  son,  at  an  age  when,  in  these  degene- 
rate times,  children  think  but  of  their  toys.  Hali, 
king  of  the  Moors,  having  entered  the  kingdom  of 
Toledo,  in  the  year  1100,  wasted  the  country,  and 
finally  advanced  within  sight  of  the  city  itself.  The 
king,  disabled  by  illness  from  heading  his  troops  in 
person,  gave  the  command  to  Don  Garcia,  Conde  of 
Cabra,  tutor  of  the  prince  and  brother-in-law  of  Al- 
fonso, and,  to  add  to  his  power  and  authority,  permitted 
the  youth  to  accompany  him.  The  two  armies  met 
near  Ucles,  and  the  young  heir  of  Castile  and  Leon, 
clothed  in  armor,  fought  side  by  side  with  his 
father's  veteran  warriors,  against  the  enemies  of  hin 
country  and  religion.  The  Infidels,  greatly  outnum- 
bering the  Christians,  finally  won  the  battle,  the 
prince  being  struck  down  in  the  heat  of  the  fight. 
Don  Grarcia  covered  him  with  his  shield,  and  fought 
fur  some  time  with  the  courage  of  despair,  until,  over- 
powered by  numbers,  he  dropped  dead  on  the  lifeless 
body  of  the  prince.  This  instance  of  precocious  valor 
is  not  the  only  one  to  be  found  in  the  history  of  those 
stirring  days,  when  war  and  the  chase  were  almost 


BERTA  OF  TUSCANY.  185 

the  only  occupations  then  deemed  worthy  of  the 
sons  of  royalty.  The  mother  of  this  prince  died  soon 
after  his  birth,  but  in  what  year  we  are  not  told  by 
any  of  the  ancient  chroniclers.  At  the  time  of 
Zaida's  conversion,  another  Moorish  princess  also  re- 
nounced the  creed  of  the  prophet,  and  her  adoption  of 
the  Christian  faith  is  gravely  ascribed  by  several  au- 
thors to  the  following  miracle.  Casilda,  daughter  of 
Almenon,  then  king  of  Toledo,  was  of  a  very  compas- 
sionate nature,  and  frequently  relieved  the  wants  of 
the  captive  Christians,  thereby  greatly  offending  her 
father,  who,  though  he  subsequently  proved  so  good  a 
friend  to  Alfonso,  seems  to  have  been  very  averse  to 
his  daughter's  manifesting  such  tokens  of  pity. 
Meeting  her  one  day  with  a  dish  of  dainties  she  was 
conveying  to  some  of  her  proteges,  the  king  inquired 
what  she  had  there  ;  and,  she  answering  they  were 
roses,  he  raised  the  cover,  and,  lo  !  the  meat  was 
found  to  have  vanished,  leaving  in  its  stead  the  flow- 
ers she  had  named.  Not  being  over  credulous,  we 
prefer  ascribing  the  marvelous  conversion  of  the  two 
princesses  to  the  agency  of  the  little  blind  deity. 

Berta,  of  Tuscany,  was  the  fourth  queen  of  Alfonso, 
and  Elizabeth,  a  French  princess,  but  of  what  parent- 
age we  know  not,  the  fifth.  By  Elizabeth,  Alfonso 
had  two  daughters,  Sancha,  who  married  Count  Rode- 
rick Gronzalez  de  Lara,  and  Elvira,  who  married 
Roger,  the  first  king  of  Naples  and  Sicily.  Beatrix, 
the  sixth  and  last  of  Alfonso's  queens,  brought  him 


186  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

no  children,  nor  is  anything  beyond  her  name  known 
with  any  certainty  concerning  her. 

Alfonso,  whose  whole  life  was  spent  warring  with 
the  Moors,  over  whom  he  obtained  many  victories, 
was  assisted  by  several  foreign  princes,  whom  he  not 
only  rewarded  with  princely  generosity,  but  on  whom 
he  bestowed  in  marriage  his  daughters.  To  Ramon, 
the  ninth  Count  of  Toulouse,  he  gave  his  illegitimate 
daughter,  Elvira,  to  Henry,  a  descendant  of  the  Dukes 
of  Lorraine,  he  gave  Teresa,  another  illegitimate 
daughter,  and  from  this  marriage  was  born  Alfonso 
Henriquez,  the  first  king  of  Portugal.  Urraca,  the 
eldest  daughter  of  queen  Constance,  he  gave  to  Ray- 
mond, brother  to  the  Count  of  Burgundy,  and  subse- 
quently, on  the  death  of  Raymond,  to  her  cousin  Al- 
fonso, infante  of  Aragon  and  Navarre.  Alfonso  died  in 
the  year  1108,  in  the  seventy-fourth  year  of  his  age 
and  the  35th  of  his  reign,  (counting  from  the  death  of 
Sancho,)  leaving  the  crown  to  his  eldest  daughter  and 
heiress,  Urraca. 


DONA    URRACA.  187 

DONA  URRACA. 
1108. 

QUEEN   OF    ARAGON    AND    NAVARRE,    AND,    BY   RIGHT    OF    IN- 
HERITANCE, FOURTH    QUEEN   OF    CASTILE. 

URRACA,  daughter  of  Alfonso  VI.,  and  of  his  queen, 
Constance,  by  the  premature  death  of  her  only  brother, 
Sancho,  slain  at  the  battle  of  Ucles,  became  the  heir- 
ess of  a  crown  she  subsequently  disgraced  by  her 
licentious  conduct.  The  death  of  this  promising 
youth,  on  whom,  from  his  good  qualities,  the  nation 
founded  great  hopes,  was  the  more  to  be  deplored,  as 
it  left  the  throne  to  one  who  seems  to  have  been  en- 
dowed with  neither  ability,  sense,  nor  talent  for  gov- 
erning. By  her  first  husband,  Raymond,  brother  to 
the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  Urraca  had  one  son,  Alfonso, 
who  was  brought  up  in  Gfalicia,  of  which  his  father  had 
been  named  governor,  with  the  title  of  count,*  by  the 
king.  Raymond  is  said,  by  some  authors,  to  have 
died  in  1100,  though  others  place  his  death  several 
years  later.  The  Castilian  nobles  were  desirous  the 
widowed  princess  should  marry  one  of  their  own  body, 
Gromez,  Conde  of  Candespina,  and  deputed  Cidelio, 
the  Jewish  physician  of  Alfonso,  to  suggest  the  match 
to  the  king.  The  monarch  was  so  indignant  at  the 
proposal,  that  he  banished  the  hapless  messenger  for 
ever  from  his  court.  In  the  year  1103,  Alfonso 

*  The  title  of  Conde  was  at  that  time  the  highest  in  Spain. 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

bestowed  Urraca  on  Alfonso,  brother  of  Pedro  I.,  king 
of  Aragon.  The  latter  dying  in  the  following  year, 
and  her  husband  being  the  next  heir,  Urraca  became 
queen  of  Aragon.  This  second  marriage  proved  a 
very  unhappy  one,  from  the  want  of  affection  between 
the  wedded  pair,  and  the  levity  and  imprudence  of  Ur- 
raca, who  is  said  to  have  entertained  a  decided  prefer- 
ence for  the  handsome  Castilian  noble.  The  death  of 
Alfonso  VI.,  in  1108,  rendering  it  necessary  for  the 
heiress  of  his  domains  to  return  to  Castile,  Urraca  pre- 
ceded her  husband,  at  the  time  engaged  in  settling 
the  affairs  of  his  own  kingdom,  and  by  her  first  acts 
proved  herself  totally  unfit  for  the  important  post  she 
was  to  fill.  With  as  little  policy  as  gratitude,  she  re- 
moved from  the  management  of  public  affairs  Peran- 
zules,  a  man  in  great  repute,  who  had  enjoyed  in  a 
large  degree  the  favor  of  the  late  king,  who  had 
reposed  unbounded  confidence  in  him.  Nor  was  the 
sovereign's  reliance  vain,  for  since  his  death  the  min- 
ister's prudence  and  wisdom  had  maintained  the  king- 
dom in  peace  and  tranquillity.  Peranzules,  who  had 
been  the  queen's  tutor,  is  said  to  have  incurred  her 
displeasure  by  his  severe  remonstrances  on  the  impro- 
priety of  her  conduct,  but  the  reason  she  gave  was  his 
having,  in  the  letters  he  had  sent  to  inform  her  of  her 
father's  death,  addressed  her  husband  as  "king  of 
Castile."  She  carried  her  resentment  so  far  as  to  de- 
prive him  of  his  estates,  but  Don  Alfonso  ordered  they 
should  be  restored  to  him.  A  new  war  breaking  out 

o 

in  Andalusia,   now    demanded    the    king's    attention. 


DONA    URRACA.  189 

Hali,  king  of  the  Moors,  taking  advantage  of  the  death 
of  king  Alfonso,  invaded  the  Christian  territories,  and 
advancing  as  far  as  the  city  of  Toledo,  demolished  the 
castle  of  Azeca,  destroying  the  monastery  of  St.  Ser- 
vandus,  and  ravaging  the  surrounding  country.  He 
even  laid  siege  to  the  city,  battering  it  for  the  space 
of  eight  days,  with  all  the  engines  of  war  then  in  use. 
The  natural  strength  of  the  city,  and  the  wall  built 
below  it  by  the  late  monarch,  foiled  the  attempts  of 
the  Moor.  It  was  also  well  defended  by  Alvar  Fanez, 
one  of  the  greatest  soldiers  of  that  epoch.  Seeing  no 
prospect  of  Toledo  surrendering,  the  Moors  raised  the 
siege,  and  returned  home  loaded  with  spoils,  plunder- 
ing on  their  way  Madrid  and  Talavera,  which  towns 
they  left  entirely  dismantled.  In  Aragon,  however, 
the  king  was  more  successful,  taking,  in  1110,  from 
the  Infidels,  the  town  of  Exea,  in  Navarre,  and  over- 
throwing, in  a  battle  fought  near  Valterca,  Abubasa- 
lem,  king  of  Zaragosa.  He  then  assumed  the  title  of 
Emperor  of  Spain,  as  his  father-in-law  had  done,  and 
having  finally  settled  matters  in  Aragon,  he  passed 
over  into  Castile  in  1111.  Here  he  used  all  his 
endeavors  to  conciliate  the  affections  of  the  people, 
protecting  the  weak,  relieving  the  distressed,  treating 
the  nobles  with  the  respect  due  them,  and  observing 
towards  all  classes  the  strictest  impartiality  in  the 
administration  of  justice.  His  affability  would  have 
won  him  universal  good  will,  had  he  not  forfeited  the 
love  of  the  Castilians,  by  placing  garrisons  of  Arago- 
nians  in  many  important  fortresses,  especially  in  those 


190  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

situated  on  the  frontiers  of  Aragon  and  Navarre.  Hav- 
ing directed  the  towns  destroyed  by  the  Moors  to  be 
rebuilt,  the  king  returned  to  Aragon  with  the  queen, 
whom,  her  conduct  having  become  notorious,  he  impris- 
oned in  the  Castellar  near  the  town  of  Zaragosa.  With 
the  assistance  of  some  of  her  Castilian  followers, 
Urraca  managed  to  escape  and  return  to  Castile,  but 
the  nobles  fearing  the  evil  consequences  of  a  separa- 
tion, which  would  inevitably  bring  a  rupture  between 
Aragon  and  Castile,  with  all  due  respect,  sent  the  queen 
back  to  her  husband,  and  a  momentary  reconciliation 
was  patched  up  between  them.  Meanwhile  the  nobles 
of  Gralicia,  displeased  that  Castile  should  be  under  the 
sway  of  the  Aragonese,  alleged,  that  as  no  dispensa- 
tion had  been  obtained  from  the  pontiff,  the  queen's 
marriage  was  illegal,  and  they  were  not  bound  to  obey 
one  who  was  not  their  lawful  sovereign.*  The  utmost 
confusion  now  reigned  in  the  divided  kingdom.  The 
king  of  Aragon,  who  had  again  imprisoned  his  wife, 
though  he  desisted,  after  taking  by  storm  the  castle  of 
Monterroso  in  Gralicia,  from  farther  acts  of  overt  hos- 
tility, persecuted  those  whom  he  suspected  of  disaffec- 
tion to  his  cause,  depriving  many  of  their  estates. 
The  Gralicians  leagued  with  Henry,  Count  of  Portugal, 
and  notwithstanding  his  extreme  youth,  proclaimed  the 

*  Don  Alfonso  was  the  third  cousin  of  Dona  Urraca,  both 
being  the  great-grandchildren  of  Don  Sancho  the  Great.  As 
it  was  not  usual  for  the  Pope  to  grant  a  dispensation  in  such  cases, 
this  consanguinity  frequently  offered  a  specious  pretext  for  ob- 
taining a  divorce. 
. 


DONA    URRACA. 


191 


son  of  Urraca  king  of  Castile  and  ...ison.  This  young 
prince  was  greatly  beloved  by  the  G-alicians,  having 
been  brought  up  among  them  from  his  infancy,  under 
the  care  of  Don  Pedro,  Count  of  Trava.  He  was 
anointed  in  the  Cathedral  of  Compostilla,  by  James 
G-elmirez,  bishop  of  that  see.  This  ceremony  was 
then  performed  for  the  first  time  in  Spain,  and  was 
introduced  to  add  solemnity  on  this  occasion  to  the 
proclamation.  The  king  of  Aragon,  greatly  incensed, 
now  procured  a  divorce  from  his  wife,  whose  alliance 
seemed  of  no  avail  to  secure  him  her  inheritance, 
which,  however,  he  prepared  to  retain.  Dona  Urraca, 
was  no  sooner  free,  than  she  gave  out,  that  she  had  been 
forced  into  marrying  Alfonso,  and  that  the  latter  was 
aiming  at  possessing  himself  of  the  prince's  person,  in 
order  to  poison  him,  and  seize  the  crown  himself.  The 
king  of  Aragon,  refusing  to  give  up  the  fortresses  and 
town?  he  held  in  Castile,  many  of  the  alcaldes  revolted 
to  the  queen,  whom  alone,  since  her  divorce,  they  consi- 
dered entitled  to  their  allegiance.  Peranzules,  though  a 
man  of  strict  integrity,  thought  himself  in  duty  bound 
to  do  the  same,  but  his  nice  sense  of  honor  causing  him 
to  feel  some  scruples,  from  his  having  formerly  sworn 
allegiance  to  Alfonso,  he  presented  himself  before  the 
latter,  clothed  in  scarlet,  mounted  on  a  white  steed, 
and  bearing  in  his  hands  a  halter,  placed  his  person  at 
the  sovereign's  disposal,  to  be  done  by  as  best  suited 
his  pleasure.  Alfonso,  though  offended  at  his  breech 
of  faith,  could  not  but  forgive  his  loyalty,  and  treated 
him  courteously.  All  the  nobles  of  Castile  now  unit- 


192  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

ed  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  the  king  of  Aragon,  whom, 
despite  his  many  good  qualities,  they  regarded  as  a 
stranger,  and,  had  the  queen  possessed  the  judgment 
and  prudence  indispensable  at  such  a  crisis,  she  would 
have,  undoubtedly,  made  good  her  right  to  the  crown. 
Her  evil  passions  could  not  however  be  subdued  by  the 
critical  circumstances  in  which  she  was  placed,  and 
her  undisguised  partiality  for  the  Count  of  Candespina, 
her  former  suitor,  greatly  displeased  her  subjects. 
Though  the  queen's  manifestation  of  preference  was 
particularly  injurious  to  her  interests,  its  object  was 
not,  in  the  present  case  unworthy  of  it,  for  the  conde 
was  in  the  flower  of  his  age,  remarkable  for  the  grace 
and  elegance  of  his  person  and  manners,  brave,  reso- 
lute, and  zealous  for  the  interests  of  his  country.  He 
was,  unfortunately,  made  to  share  the  command  of 
the  queen's  forces  with  Pedro,  Count  of  Lara,  another 
successful  candidate  for  the  queen's  favor,  and  the 
rivalry  between  the  chiefs  was  productive  of  the 
worst  effects.  The  king  of  Aragon  now  entered  Cas- 
tile by  the  way  of  Soria  and  Osma,  at  the  head  of  a 
powerful  army,  and  having  been  met  by  the  queen's 
forces,  both  parties  encamped  near  Sepulveda  and  pre- 
pared to  give  battle.  This  engagement,  called  from 
the  field  where  it  took  place,  de  la  Espina,  is  one  of 
the  most  famous  of  that  age.  The  dastardly  Count 
of  Lara  fled  at  the  first  shock,  and  joined  the  queen 
at  Burgos,  where  she  was  anxiously  awaiting  the  issue, 
but  the  brave  Count  of  Candespina,  stood  his  ground 
fo  the  last,  and  died  on  the  field  of  battle.  His 


URRACA.  193 

standard-bearer,  a  gentleman  of  the  house  of  Olea, 
after  having  had  his  horse  killed  under  him,  and  both 
hands  cut  off  by  sabre  strokes,  fell  beside  his  master, 
still  clasping  the  standard  with  his  arms,  and  repeat- 
ing his  war-cry  of  "  Olea  !"  The  defection  of  Henry, 
Conde  of  Portugal,  who,  in  disgust  at  the  queen's  con- 
duct, went  over  to  the  Aragonese,  completed  the  defeat 
of  her  party.  The  nobles  of  Galicia,  having  recruited 
their  forces,  again  sought  to  oppose  the  progress  of  the 
foe,  and  were  again  defeated,  between  Leon  and  As- 
torga.  The  young  sovereign,  Don  Alfonso,  retired  to 
the  Castile  of  Orfilon,  where  his  mother  was.  No  bat- 
tle of  that  age  was  so  fatal  to  Castile.  The  towns 
of  Najara,  Palencia,  Burgos  and  Leon  submitted  to 
the  conqueror,  and  his  success  would  have  been  com- 
plete, had  he  not,  being  greatly  in  want  of  money  to 
pay  his  troops,  appropriated  to  that  purpose  the  treas- 
ures of  the  churches.  The  people  who  could  forgive 
the  misery  and  desolation  .brought  on  them  by  the  am- 
bition of  one  man,  their  harvests  destroyed,  and  home- 
steads burnt  to  the  ground  by  a  foreign  foe,  were 
greatly  shocked  when  he  availed  himself  of  such 
sacrilegious  means  to  carry  out  his  purpose,  and 
from  that  time  fortune  began  to  forsake  him.  After 
ravaging  the  kingdom  of  Toledo,  the  Aragoniaus  pre- 
pared to  lay  siege  to  the  city,  as  it  was  supposed  that 
the  queen  intended  making  a  last  effort  on  that  side. 
At  this  juncture,  Martin  Muiio,  while  on  his  way  to 
join  the  king  of  Aragon,  fell  into  an  ambush,  he  him- 
self being  taken  prisoner,  and  the  three  hundred  men 


194  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

who  accompanied  him  killed  or  dispersed.  The  loss 
of  this  reinforcement,  joined  to  his  having  greatly 
diminished  his  numbers  by  leaving  garrisons  in  the 
towns  he  had  taken,  so  much  weakened  his  army,  that 
Alfonso  determined  to  retire  to  Canion,  confiding  in 
the  strength  of  that  place,  and  here  he  was,  for  some 
time,  besieged  by  the  queen's  troops,  until  the  abbot 
of  Chisensis,  appointed  by  the  pope  to  endeavor  to 
settle  the  difference,  prevailed  on  Urraca,  first,  to  grant 
a  truce,  and,  finally,  to  raise  the  siege.  This  was  an 
injudicious  step,  as  the  Castilian  troops,  being  raw  and 
undisciplined,  could  not  be  kept  together  when  inac- 
tive. The  Aragonian  now  bent  his  forces  against  the 
domains  of  the  house  of  Lara ;  while  Urraca,  after  a 
long  siege,  recovered  the  castle  of  Burgos.  Pedro, 
Count  of  Lara,  encouraged  by  the  queen,  and  hoping  to 
marry  her,  took  on  him  the  state  and  authority  of  king, 
thereby  exasperating  the  haughty  Castilian,  and  his 
name  was  coupled  with  hers  in  numberless  insulting 
ballads  and  lampoons.  He  was  at  length  imprisoned 
by  Don  Jaime  Grelmirez  de  Castro,  but  contrived  to  es- 
cape, and  fly  to  Barcelona.  Prince  Alfonso  was  again 
proclaimed  king  of  Castile,  and  laid  siege  to  the  castle 
of  Leon,  in  which  his  mother  had  fortified  herself.  It 
was  finally  agreed  between  them,  that  the  queen  should 
resign  the  crown  to  her  son.  and  that  he  should  allow 
her  a  suitable  sum  for  her  maintenance,  It  is  almost 
impossible  to  fix  the  dates  of  all  these  events,  there 
being  such  a  diversity  of  opinion  among  authors  con- 
cerning them  ;  neither  is  it  known  precisely  when  Dona 


DOftA    URRACA.  195 

Urraca  died,  though  it  is  generally  supposed  she  sur- 
vived her  father  seventeen  years,  and  died  about  the 
year  1136.  Some  authors  assert  she  died  in  childbed, 
in  the  castle  of  Saldaiia ;  and  there  is  a  tradition  of  her 
having  been  suddenly  deprived  of  life,  at  the  door  of 
the  church  of  Leon,  after  robbing  it  of  the  treasure  of 
St.  Isidorus.  It  is  also  said  that  Urraca  gave  birth  to 
a  son,  whose  father  was  the  Conde  of  Candespina,  and 
who,  from  his  birth  having  been  kept  secret,  was  called 
Fernan  Hurtado.  From  this  son  the  noble  family  of 
the  Hurtados  in  Spain  derive  their  origin.  Alfonso, 
surnamed  the  Warrior,  (El  Batallador,)  reigned  in 
Castile,  as  the  husband  of  Urraca,  four  years.  This 
sovereign  is  not  counted  by  many  Castilian  writers  as 
sovereign  of  Castile,  but  the  Aragonians  assert  his 
claim  to  that  title  ;  and  Graribay  vindicates  it,  on  the 
ground,  that  he  was  as  much  entitled  to  it  as  Don  Al- 
fonso I.  and  Don  Sibo  were  to  that  of  kings  of  Oviedo 
and  Leon,  or  as  Don  Fernando  I.  was  to  that  of  king  of 
Leon  and  Castile,  as  these  princes  were  all  indebted  for 
their  thrones  to  their  wives.  Alfonso's  whole  life  was 
spent  in  a  series  of  battles ;  for  having,  after  Urraca's 
resignation  of  her  rights  to  the  throne,  made  peace 
with  her  son,  he  turned  his  arms  against  the  Moors, 
over  whom  he  won  many  victories,  greatly  increasing 
his  dominions  at  their  expense.  The  greatest  of 
his  achievements  was  the  conquest  of  Saragossa  from 
the  Infidels,  on  the  18th  of  December  of  the  year  1118, 
after  a  siege  of  four  years.  Alfonso  was  killed  at  the 
siege  of  Fonga,  on  the  7th  September  of  the  year 


196  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAI.V. 

1134,  having  reigned  in  Aragon  and  Navarre  thirty 
years,  during  which  time  he  is  said  to  have  fought 
29  battles  with  Christians  and  Moors.  As  he  left  no 
son  to  succeed  him,  he  willed  his  domains  to  the  knights 
of  Jerusalem,  the  templars,  and  the  knights  of  the  hos- 
pital; but  this  singular  donation  never  was  fulfilled, 
the  Navarrese  choosing  for  their  sovereign  Don  Garcia 
Ramirez,  a  nephew  of  the  deceased  monarch;  and  the 
Aragonese,  Bon  Ramiro  the  monk,  broths'-  of  Don  Al- 
fonso the  warrior. 


DONA    BERENGARIA. 

1  128. 

DONA  RICA. 
1150. 

REIGN    OF    ALFONSO   VIII. 

DONA  BERENGARIA  was  the  daughter  of  Raymond 
Berengarius,  fourth  Count  of  Barcelona,  and  of  his 
wife,  Dulce,  Countess  of  Provence.  The  fame  of  her 
beauty  and  intellect  procured  her  many  suitors,  from 
among  whom  she  chose  Alfonso  VIIL,  king  of  Castile 
and  Leon,  and  the  nuptials  were  celebrated  with  great 
pomp  and  magnificence  at  Saldana,  in  1128.  This 
princess,  endowed  by  nature  with  firmness  and 
strength  of  miu  1  seldom  hum  in  her  sex,  was  be- 


DONA    BERENGARIA.  197 

sieged  in  1139  by  the  Moors,  in  Toledo.  Having  de- 
manded a  parley  with  the  enemy,  the  queen  appeared 
on  the  ramparts,  and,  addressing  the  Moorish  chiefs, 
reproached  them  as  recreant  and  coward  knights  thus 
to  besiege  a  woman,  when  their  arms  were  needed  to 
defend  Overa,  at  the  time  besieged  by  her  husband. 
The  Moorish  cavaliers,  with  the  gallantry  that  charac- 
terized that  chivalrous  race,  acknowledged  the  justice 
of  the  lady's  taunts,  and  ordered  a  retreat,  the  queen 
condescending  to  receive  the  homage  of  the  troops  as 
they  filed  off  under  the  walls. 

The  Castilians  having  subsequently,  and,  by  way 
of  retaliation  for  some  act  of  a  similar  nature,  com- 
mitted by  the  Moors,  beheaded  two  Saracen  chieftains, 
that  had  been  taken  prisoners,  the  heads  were  placed 
on  the  walls  of  the  royal  palace  of  Toledo.  The  queen, 
horror-struck  at  the  sight  of  these  sanguinary  trophies, 
had  them  taken  down  immediately,  embalmed,  and 
placed  in  two  mourning  chariots,  in  which  they  were 
by  her  orders  conveyed  to  the  widows  of  these  victims 
of  war.  A  year  after  the  queen's  marriage,  in  1129, 
some  doubts  having  been  started  as  to  the  lawfulness 
of  the  union,*  Cardinal  Humbertus  came  to  Spain 
as  pope's  legate  to  examine  the  case,  and  having 
assembled  a  synod  of  bishops  in  Leon,  these  declared 
the  marriage  legal,  the  parties  not  coming  within  the 
degrees  of  consanguinity  proscribed  by  the  church. 

"Alfonso  VIII.  was  the  great  grandson  of  King  Ferdinand  I.,  and 
Berengaria,  his  wife  was  the  great  granddaughter  of  that  monarch's 
brother,  Don  Ramiro  I.  king  of  Aragon. 


]98  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

This  good  and  amiable  princess,  though  beloved  by 
her  subjects,  esteemed  by  her  foes,  and  the  consort  of 
one  of  Europe's  most  powerful  sovereigns,  was  far 
from  enjoying  that  domestic  happiness  to  which  her 
many  virtues  entitled  her.  An  unworthy  rival  long 
held  her  place  in  the  heart  of  the  faithless  Alfonso, 
and  embittered  every  joy  of  the  hapless  queen.  This 
mistress,  whom  the  king  loved  with  the  most  ardent 
passion,  was  Grontrada,  an  Asturian  lady  of  high  rank. 
She  had  a  daughter,  Urraca,  by  the  king,  for  whom 
her  fond  father  procured  a  throne,  by  marrying  her  to 
Grarcia  Ramirez,  king  of  Navarre.  Grontrade  subse- 
quently retired  to  a  monastery  of  nuns,  which  she  had 
built  in  Oviedo,  and  there  ended  her  days.  Berenga- 
ria  gave  birth  to  four  sons,  Sancho  and  Ferdinand, 
who  both  succeeded  their  father,  the  one  in  Castile 
and  the  other  in  Leon,  and  Garcia  and  Ferdinand,  who 
died  young.  She  had  also  two  daughters,  Constance, 
who  in  1154  married  Louis  VI.  king  of  France,  and 
Sancha  Beatrix,  who  married  Sancho  the  Wise,  king 
of  Navarre.*  Berengaria  died  on  the  3d  February, 
1149,  and  was  buried  in  the  church  of  St.  James  the 
Apostle,  in  Gralicia. 

Rica,  the  daughter  of  Uladislaus,  duke  of  Poland, 
was  the  second  wife  of  Alfonso  VIII.,  whom  she  mar- 
ried in  1150,  and  by  whom  she  became  the  mother  of 
one  daughter,  Dona  Sancha.  After  the  death  of  her 

*  Thus  the  two  half-sisters  married  two  kings  of  Navarre  ;  the 
illegitimate  daughter  of  Alfonso  marrying  the  father,  Garcia  Rami- 
rez, and  the  legitimate  marrying  the  son,  Sancho  the  Wise. 


DONA    BERKNGARIA. 


199 


first  husband,  the  king  of  Castile,  Rica  married  Ray- 
mond Berengarins,  Count  of  Provence.     Alfonso  him- 
self died  in  1157.     This  prince  was  endowed  with  the 
qualities  that  became  his  station,  and  the  following 
incident  is  illustrative  of  his  impartial  administration 
of  justice.     A  gentleman  of  Gralici a  having  arbitrarily 
wrested  from  the  owner  a  small  estate,  the  dispos- 
sessed proprietor  repaired  to  Toledo,  and  presenting  him- 
self to  the  king,  demanded  redress.     Alfonso,  having 
ascertained    the   truth    of    the    peasant's   statement, 
immediately   wrote   to   the    oppressor,    bidding    him 
restore   the   land,   and  also   to  the  merino-mayor   of 
Gralicia,   to  enforce  his  commands.     Both,  however, 
failing  to  comply  with  the  sovereign's  orders,  Alfonso 
set  out  from  Toledo  in  disguise,  and,  on  arriving  in 
Gralicia,   caused  the  residence  of  the  infanzon  to  be 
surrounded .     The  latter,  apprized  of  the  king's  inten- 
tion,  fled,  but  was  pursued,  seized,  and  hung  at  his 
own   door.     The  king   then   caused    the   land  to  be 
restored  to  its  proprietor.     This  summary  punishment 
of  the  infraction  of  the  law  produced  very  beneficial 
results  in  Galicia,  inasmuch  as  it  acted  as  a  curb  to 
the   hitherto    lawless    nobles    and    gentry.       Alfonso, 
though  not  the  first  of  the  Spanish  monarchs  to  style 
himself  emperor,   was   the  first   who   was   solemnly 
crowned  by  that  title,  and  had  it  approved  and  con- 
firmed by   the  pope,   in  1135.     After  his  coronation 
Alfonso  took  the  unfortunate  resolution  of  dividing  his 
realms  during  his  lifetime  between  his  sons,  giving  to 
Sancho,  the  eldest,  the  kingdoms  of  Castile  and  Tole- 


uoo 


THE    QUEENS    OP    SPAIN. 


do,  which,  according  to  the  limits  he  assigned,  consti- 
tuted the  better  part  of  his  dominions,  and  to  Ferdi- 
nand, the  second  son,  Leon  and  Gralicia.  The  king 
was  advised  to  this  most  injudicious  measure  by  some 
of  his  nobles,  who  shared  his  confidence  and  favor ; 
these  perfidious  counsellors  hoping  to  increase  their 
own  power  during  the  troubles  they  foresaw  would 
emanate  from  this  division.  On  his  return  from  a  suc- 
cessful campaign  against  the  Moors,  in  the  course  of 
which  he  had  taken  from  them  the  city  of  Baeza,  and 
the  towns  of  Andajas  and  Quesada,  and  having  left 
his  son  Sancho  in  charge  of  these  newly-acquired  pos- 
sessions, Alfonso  felt  the  first  symptoms  of  the  disease 
that  was  to  prove  fatal  to  him.  Overcome  by  the  vio- 
lence of  the  distemper,  he  found  it  impossible  to  reach 
Toledo,  and  was  compelled  to  stop  and  rest  under  a 
large  oak  near  Fresneda.  Here  the  last  rites  were 
administered  to  the  expiring  monarch  by  the  archbishop 
of  Toledo,  Prince  Ferdinand  being  also  with  his 
father,  and  under  this  oak  the  high  and  mighty 
Alfonso  VIII.,  emperor  of  Spain,  expired  in  the  36th 
year  of  his  reign,  in  August,  1157.  The  body  was 
conveyed  to  Toledo,  and  interred  there  with  royal 
honors  by  Prince  Sancho,  who,  when  the  news  of  his 
father's  death  reached  him,  abandoned  the  new  con- 
quests, and  hastened  to  perform  the  last  honors  to  a 
parent  who  had  deprived  him  of  a  large  portion  of  his 
inheritance ;  while  Ferdinand,  forgetting  all  filial  re- 
spect in  his  haste  to  secure  his  own  interests,  forsook 
the  corpse  and  hurried  to  Leon,  to  take  possession  of 


BLANCHE,    QUEEN    OF    CASTILE. 

his  domains.  Thus,  under  the  sons  of  Alfonso,  in 
1157,  took  place  the  separation  of  Castile  from  Leon, 
first  united  under  Ferdinand  I.,  in  1037 ;  and  these 
kingdoms  were  not  again  united  until  the  reign  of  Fer- 
dinand III.  in  1230. 


BLANCHE,  QUEEN  OF  CASTILE. 

REIGN    OF    SANCHO    III. 

BLANCHE  was  the  daughter  of  Garcia  Ramirez,  nine- 
teenth king  of  Navarre,  by  his  first  wife,  Margarite. 
During  the  reign  of  Alfonso  VIII.  Navarre  was  threat- 
ened with  an  invasion  by  that  sovereign,  but  Gfarcia 
having  had  an  interview  with  him,  all  differences  were 
amicably  settled,  and  the  young  Blanche  betrothed  to 
Sancho,  whom  his  father  had  already  designed  as  his 
successor  in  Castile.  The  extreme  youth  of  the  bride 
precluding  the  marriage  taking  place  for  some  years, 
she  was  entrusted  to  the  care  of  her  future  father-in- 
law,  to  be  educated  at  his  court.  In  1144,  her  father, 
Grarcia,  who  was  then  a  widower,  in  order  farther  to 
strengthen  his  alliance  with  Alfonso,  married  Urraca, 
that  sovereign's  illegitimate  daughter.  These  frequent 
intermarriages  did  not  prevent  the  little  kingdom  of 
Navarre  from  being  frequently  menaced  by  the  am- 
bition of  its  powerful  neighbors;  and,  in  1150,  Alfonso 
entered  into  a  league  with  Raymond,  prince  of  Ara- 


202  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

gon,  to  dethrone  his  son-in-law,  Sancho,  surnamed  the 
Wise,  who,  by  the  death  of  his  father,  G-arcia  Ramirez, 
(also  a  son-in-law  of  Alfonso,)  had  that  year  succeeded 
to  the  throne.  It  was  agreed  in  Tudelin,  between  the 
Castilian  and  Aragonese  sovereigns,  that  they  would 
divide  Navarre  between  them ;  and  it  was  also  then 
and  there  proposed,  that  Blanche  should  be  divorced, 
but  to  this  Sancho,  who  was  extremely  fond  of  her, 
refused  to  consent.  Blanche  was  very  amiable,  and 
her  beauty  and  fairness  are  said  to  have  been  such 
as  to  fully  deserve  the  name  she  bore.  In  1153,  a  year 
after  her  marriage,  the  princess  presented  her  husband 
with  a  son,  who  was  named  Alfonso,  and  who  suc- 
ceeded his  father.  Blanche  died  in  childbed,  in  1158, 
on  the  24th  June,  and  it  is  probable  her  infant  did  not 
survive  her,  as  no  other  child  but  Alfonso  is  mentioned. 
Sancho,  whose  private  character  is  without  a  blemish, 
was  also  endowed  with  qualities  befitting  a  king,  and 
greatly  beloved  by  his  subjects.  His  sweetness  of  tem- 
per and  generosity  of  heart  prevented  his  taking  advan- 
tage of  his  superior  power  to  crush  that  of  his  brother  Fer- 
dinand, and  to  deprive  the  latter  of  the  domains  his  father 
had  given  him  ;  and  when  the  king  of  Leon,  on  the 
false  report  that  the  king  of  Castile  intended  to  invade 
his  dominions,  hastened  to  his  presence  and  offered  to 
do  homage  to  him  for  his  kingdom,  the  magnanimous 
Sancho  answered,  that  "  the  son  of  so  great  a  monarch 
never  should  be  the  vassal  of  another,  even  of  his  own 
brother."  Unfortunately  for  his  people,  Sancho  sur- 
vived his  beloved  consort  but  little  over  two  months, 


DONA    URRACA. 


203 


dying  on  the  31st  August  of  the  same  year,  and  leav- 
ing his  only  son,  a  child  in  his  fifth  year,  exposed  to  the 
dangers  threatened  by  the  ambition  of  his  uncle. 


DONA  URRACA  OF  PORTUGAL. 

1165. 

DONA  TERESA. 
1175. 

DONA  URRACA  DE  HARO. 

1  184. 

(QUEENS  OF  LEON.) 
REIGN  OF  FERDINAND  II. 

DONA  URRACA,  daughter  of  Alfonso  I.  king  of  Por- 
tugal, and  of  Malsada  his  queen,  was,  in  1165,  mar- 
ried to  Ferdinand  III.,  who  had  inherited  the  kingdom 
of  Leon,  in  1157,  from  his  father,  Alfonso  VIII. 
Dona  Urraca  was,  in  1175,  on  the  usual  plea  of  con- 
sanguinity,* divorced  from  her  husband,  notwithstand- 
ing which,  her  son  by  the  king  was  declared  heir  to 
the  crown.  This  divorce  was  preceded  and  followed 
by  long  wars  between  Leon  and  Portugal.  The  king 
of  Leon  still  farther  incurred  the  displeasure  of  his 

*  Dona  Urraca  of  Portugal,  the  first  wife  of  Ferdinand,  was  her 
husband's  second  cousin,  both  being  the  grandchildren  of  two  sis- 
ters. Dona  Urraca  and  Dona  Teresa,  daughters  of  Alphonso  VI. 


204  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

father-in-law,  by  building  on  the  borders  of  the  latter's 
dominions  the  town  of  Cuidad  Rodrigo,  following  in  this 
the  advice  of  a  banished  Portuguese. 

Teresa,  daughter  of  Fernandez  Perez  de  Trava,  was 
the  second  wife  of  Ferdinand,  to  whom  she  was  mar- 
ried in  1175,  immediately  after  his  divorce  from  his 
first  queen.  Dona  Teresa  died  in  1180,  leaving  no 
issue.  Four  years  after  the  death  of  Teresa,  Ferdinand 
married  Dona  Urraca  Lopez  de  Haro,  daughter  of  the 
Conde  Don  Lopez  Diaz  de  Haro,  Lord  of  Biscay,  Najera, 
and  Haro,  and  of  his  wife,  Dona  Aldonza  Ruiz  de  Castro. 
Dona  Urraca  having  given  birth  to  two  children,  Grarcia 
and  Sancho,  soon  became  anxious  that  her  sons  should 
take  precedence  of  the  heir  apparent,  Don  Alfonso, 
who,  she  concluded,  being  the  issue  of  a  marriage 
that  had  been  annulled  as  unlawful,  was  a  bastard, 
and,  consequently,  not  entitled  to  inherit  the  crown. 
The  queen's  unjust  treatment  of  her  stepson  so  irritated 
the  young  prince,  that  he  determined  to  take  refuge 
with  his  grandfather,  the  king  of  Portugal ;  but,  as  he 
was  preparing  to  cross  the  Tagus,  he  was  overtaken  by 
messengers  bringing  the  news  of  his  father's  death,  on 
which  he  immediately  turned  back.  Remembering  the 
wrongs  inflicted  on  him  by  his  stepmother,  the  new 
king  deprived  her  of  the  towns  of  Monteagudo  and 
Aguilar,  assigned  to  her  as  a  jointure  by  the  late  sove- 
reign. That  of  Monteagudo  sustained  a  long  siege, 
surrendering  only  on  the  death  of  the  Alcayde,  struck 
by  the  shaft  of  an  arrow,  while  on  the  ramparts. 
Aguilar  held  out  still  longer,  its  garrison  not  submit- 


ELINOR    OF    ENGLAND. 


205 


ting  until  compelled  by  famine,  having  previously  con- 
sumed, to  allay  the  pangs  of  hunger,  the  most  loathsome 
animals,  hides,  and  even  grass.  After  the  untimely 
death  of  her  son,  Don  Sancho,  who  was  torn  to  pieces 
by  a  bear,  while  hunting,  Teresa  retired  from  the  world 
to  a  Cistercian  monastery  in  Villena,  eight  leagues  from 
Burgos,  and  there  passed  the  remainder  of  her  life. 
The  date  of  her  death  is  unknown. 


ELINOR  OF  ENGLAND, 

(QUEEN  OF  CASTII.E.) 

1170. 

REIGN  OF  ALFONSO  IX. 

DON  SANCHO,  king  of  Castile,  dying  in  1158,  and  leav- 
ing an  orphan  heir,  not  five  years  of  age,  to  the  care  of 
Fernandez  Gfutierez  de  Castro,  occasioned  a  long  period 
of  confusion  and  bloodshed  in  Castile.  The  ambition 
of  Ferdinand,  king  of  Leon,  his  uncle,  and  the  rivalry 
of  the  two  powerful  houses  of  Castro  and  Leon,  all 
apparently  contending  for  the  honor  of  protecting  and 
guarding  the  royal  orphan,  but  in  reality  for  their  own 
advancement,  distracted  the  wretched  kingdom.  The 
late  king's  will  having,  furthermore,  ordered  that  each 
noble  and  cavalier  should,  until  the  prince  attained 
his  majority,  which  was  fixed  at  his  fifteenth  year, 
retain  the  command  or  office  which  he  held  at  the 


206  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

time  of  Sancho's  death,  this  clause  produced  much 
trouble.  The  disputes  for  the  possession  and  guardian- 
ship of  the  young  king,  which  divided  the  Laras  and 
Castros,  favoring  the  schemes  of  Ferdinand,  he  invaded 
Castile  at  the  head  of  a  large  force,  and  possessed  him- 
self of  nearly  all  the  towns  and  fortresses.  Don 
Manrique,  the  noble  into  whose  hands  the  boy-king 
had  passed  after  the  death  of  Fernandez  Ghitierez,  not 
only  placed  the  revenues  of  Castile  for  the  space  of 
twelve  years  in  the  hands  of  Ferdinand,  but  also  pro- 
mised that  Alfonzo  should  do  him  homage  as  his 
vassal,  and  engaged  to  give  him  the  charge  of  his 
nephew.  Don  Manrique  arriving  with  the  king  of 
Leon  at  the  town  of  Soria,  where  the  prince  resided, 
sent  for  him,  in  order  to  fulfil  his  infamous  agreement. 
The  child,  whose  imagination  had  probably  been  work- 
ed on  by  his  attendants,  at  sight  of  his  traitorous 
guardian  burst  into  a  passion  of  tears,  which  were 
interpreted  by  them  to  proceed  from  his  being  hungry, 
and  Don  Manrique  consented  to  his  being  taken  to 
the  palace  in  order  to  procure  him  some  refreshment. 
Here,  as  preconcerted,  a  loyal  and  noble  gentleman, 
Don  Pero  Nunez  de  Fuente  Almexir,  wrapping  the 
boy-king  in  his  mantle,  placed  him  before  him  on  a 
fleet  steed  provided  for  the  purpose,  and  conveyed  him 
in  all  haste  to  the  town  of  San  Estevan  de  Grormaz. 
Ferdinand,  meanwhile,  was  urgent  to  see  his  nephew ; 
and  the  condes  and  cavaliers  who  were  in  the  secret 
of  his  escape,  in  order  to  facilitate  it  by  gaining  time, 
replied  to  all  inquiries  concerning  him,  that  he  was 


ELINOR    OF    ENGLAND. 


207 


asleep,  until,  losing  all  patience,  the  king  sent  for  the 
child's  tutor,  and  sternly  demanded  where  his  pupil 
was.  Unable  to  evade  the  question,  the  preceptor 
replied,  that  a  gentleman  had  taken  the  prince  away 
in  the  name  of  the  king.  Ferdinand,  enraged  at  the 
disappointment,  ordered  pursuit  to  be  made  after  the 
fugitives ;  but  the  conde  Don  Manrique,  regretting  his 
base  promise,  and  sending  timely  notice  to  Don  Pero 
Nunez,  on  the  arrival  in  Soria  of  the  king,  the  bird 
had  again  taken  wing.  The  prince  was  thus  for  some 
time  taken  from  place  to  place,  until  he  was  finally 
left  in  the  hands  of  the  citizens  of  Avila,  who  swore  to 
guard  and  protect  him  until  he  came  of  age.  A  prom- 
ise so  faithfully  kept,  that  it  gave  rise  to  the  saying, 
of  any  man  who  was  remarkable  for  good  faith  and 
loyalty,  "  he  came  from  Avila."  When  Alfonso  attain- 
ed the  age  of  twelve,  it  was  judged  advisable  that  he 
should  make  a  progress  through  the  kingdom,  the 
minds  of  the  people  being  predisposed  to  revolt  and 
shake  off  the  yoke  of  Ferdinand.  A  guard  of  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  horse  of  the  townsmen  of  Avila,  and  a 
large  number  of  gentlemen  and  nobles,  escorted  the 
young  king,  and  every  town  through  which  he  passed 
hailed  him  as  its  lord,  with  great  demonstrations  of 
joy.  Peace  having  finally  been  restored,  ambassadors 
were  sent  to  England  to  solicit  for  Alfonso  the  hand 
of  Elinor,  daughter  of  Henry  II.  and  his  queen  Elinor, 
the  divorced  wife  of  Louis  VII.,  king  of  France.  The 
nuptials  were  celebrated  with  great  pomp  at  Tarra- 
gona, in  September.  1170;  Don  Alfonso,  the  king  of 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

Aragon,  being  present  and  giving  away  the  bride. 
The  king  of  Castile,  charmed  with  the  beauty  of  his 
bride,  signalized  himself  by  his  munificence,  settling 
on  her  as  a  jointure  a  large  part  of  Castile,  Burgos, 
Medina  del  Campo,  and  a  number  of  towns,  besides 
assigning  as  her  portion  of  the  spoils  half  of  all  that 
should  be  conquered  from  the  Moors.  Elinor  gave 
birth  to  thirteen  children :  Blanche,  who  married 
Louis  VIII.,  king  of  France  ;  Berengaria,  who  married 
Alfonso  IX.,  king  of  Leon  ;  Ferdinand,  Sancho,  and 
Enrique,  who  died  young ;  Urraca,  who,  in  1208, 
married  Alfonso,  eldest  son  of  the  king  of  Portugal ; 
another  Ferdinand,  who  died  at  the  age  of  twenty,  in 
1211 ;  Constance,  who  took  the  veil,  and  became 
abbess  of  the  monastery  of  Huelgas,  where  she  died, 
in  1243 ;  Leonor,  who  married  James,  king  of  Aragon ; 
Malsada,  who  died  unmarried ;  two  daughters  who  died 
in  their  infancy,  and  whose  names  have  not  been  re- 
corded ;  and,  finally,  another  Enrique,  the  youngest 
child,  and  sole  surviving  son,  who  lived  to  succeed  his 
father.  A  story  is  told,  in  some  of  the  ancient  chronicles, 
of  Alfonso's  attachment  to  a  beautiful  Jewess  of  the 
name  of  Rachel,  with  whom  he  remained  seven  years 
in  Toledo,  secluding  himself  from  all  society  but  hers, 
and  neglecting  the  cares  of  government,  until  his 
nobles,  incensed  at  the  king's  blind  infatuation,  slew 
the  fair  one  in  the  presence  of  her  lover.  Though  at 
first  the  monarch  was  inconsolable  for  the  loss  of  his 
mistress,  he  was  roused  to  a  sense  of  his  folly  by  the 
remonstrances  of  some  of  his  faithful  counsellors,  and, 


DOflA    TERESA.  209 

shaking  off  the  apathy  in  which  he  had  hitherto  lived, 
applied  himself  to  the  duties  of  his  high  post  with  re- 
newed energy.  This  account  is,  however,  discredited 
by  the  majority  of  the  historians,  who  give,  as  a  cogent 
reason  for  their  disbelief,  the  difficulty  of  finding,  in 
the  life  of  Alfonso,  the  period  of  inactivity  mentioned 
in  the  tradition,  as,  during  his  whole  reign,  he  was 
constantly  employed  in  wars  with  the  neighboring 
kings  of  Leon  and  Navarre,  and,  above  all,  with  the 
Moors.  Don  Alfonso  is  described  as  being  a  very  kind 
and  affectionate  husband,  and  this  account,  if  true, 
certainly  precludes  the  possibility  of  his  affection  having 
been  for  any  length  of  time  diverted  into  another  chan- 
nel. This  monarch  died  on  the  6th  of  October,  1214, 
at  the  age  of  57,  after  a  reign  of  53  years.  His  queen, 
whose  virtues  are  highly  eulogised,  was  so  overcome 
with  grief  at  his  loss,  that  she  survived  him  but  a  few 
days,  dying  on  the  last  day  of  the  same  month. 


DONA  TERESA,  (SAINT  TERESE.) 
(QUEEN  OF  LEON.) 

REIGN    OF    ALFONSO    IX. 

THIS  princess,  daughter  of  Sancho  I.,  king  of  Portu- 
gal, and  of  his  queen,  Dulcis,  was,  in  1190,  married  to 
Alfonso  IX.,  then  in  his  eighteenth  year,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded his  father,  Ferdinand  II.,  on  the  throne  of 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

Leon.  Teresa  was  celebrated  for  beauty,  benevolence, 
and  piety ;  and  having  been  born  long  previous  to  the 
accession  of  her  parents  to  the  throne,  was  brought  up 
at  the  court  and  in  the  society  of  her  grandfather, 
whose  favorite  companion  she  remained  from  her 
seventh  year  until  the  period  of  her  marriage.  On 
this  occasion,  the  aged  monarch  presented  his  loved 
grandchild  with  a  trousseau,  surpassing  in  magnificence 
that  of  any  princess  of  that  age  During  the  first 
years  of  her  wedded  life,  Teresa  gave  birth  to  a  son, 
Ferdinand,  who  died  young,  in  1214,  and  to  two  daugh- 
ters, Sancha  and  Dulcis,  neither  of  whom  were  ever 
married.  The  royal  pair  being  within  the  degrees  of 
consanguinity  proscribed  by  the  church,  Pope  Celes- 
tine,  who  at  that  time  occupied  the  papal  chair,  issued 
his  commands  that  they  should  separate.  This  in- 
junction being  disregarded,  the  kingdoms  of  Leon  and 
Portugal  were  laid  under  an  interdict,  which  was  not 
raised  until  the  divorce  took  place,  in  1296.  Teresa 
then  returned  to  her  native  land,  with  Dulcis,  her 
youngest  daughter,  and  there  retired  to  a  Cistercian 
convent,  near  Coimbra.  Here  she  remained  in  peace, 
giving  all  her  attention  to  winning  a  more  lasting 
crown  than  the  earthly  one  of  which  she  had  been  de- 
prived, until  the  death  of  Alfonso,  in  1230,  obliged  her 
to  leave  her  peaceful  retreat,  and  assist  in  settling  the 
disputes  as  to  the  succession.  The  deceased  sovereign, 
either  from  jealousy  of  Ferdinand,  his  son  by  his 
second  wife,  Berengaria  of  Castile— who  was  already 
sovereign  of  that  kingdom — or  averse  to  the  union  01 


TERRSA. 


211 


the  two  kingdoms,  had  in  his  will  left  the  crown  of 
Leon  to  the  two  infantas,  his  daughters  by  Teresa  ;  and 
the  claims  of  these  princesses  were  supported  by  the 
nobles  of  Leon,  who  were  extremely  unwilling  that  the 
kingdoms  should  come  under  one  crown.  The  young 
sovereign  of  Castile,  however,  determined  to  make 
good  his  right  to  his  father's  dominions,  and  great 
preparations  were  making  on  both  sides,  when  matters 
were  brought  to  a  peaceful  conclusion  in  a  conference 
that  took  place  between  the  queens,  mothers  of  the 
contending  parties.  The  interview  between  these  two 
ex-queens  of  Leon,  both  of  which  had  been  divorced 
from  Alfonso  on  the  same  grounds,  was  in  Palencia 
del  Miiio  ;  and  it  was  then  agreed  that  the  infantas 
should  cede  their  claims  to  the  crown,  and  receive  an 
adequate  compensation,  as  a  dower,  from  their  half- 
brother.  The  point  having  been  thus  amicably  ad- 
justed, Teresa  returned  to  her  monastery,  where  she 
spent  the  remainder  of  her  life,  distinguishing  herself 
by  the  piety  and  numerous  charitable  deeds  that  pro- 
cured her  to  be  canonized  by  Pope  Clement  XI.,  in 
1705. 


THE  .QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 


DOfiA  BERENGARIA. 

(ttUEEN  OF  LEON,   1196,  REGENT  OF  CASTILE,   1214,  dUEEN 
IN   HER  OWN  RIGHT  OF  CASTILE,   1217.) 

REIGNS  OF  ALFONSO  X.,  KING  OF    LEON  J    AND   OF    HENRY  I.  AND 
FERDINAND  III.,  KINGS  OF  CASTILE. 

THIS  lady,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Alfonso  VIII.,  king 
of  Castile,  and  his  queen,  Eleonora  of  England,  was  in 
the  year  1197  married  to  Alfonso,  king  of  Leon,  after 
his  divorce  from  his  first  wife,  Teresa  of  Portugal. 
This  marriage,  to  which  the  king  of  Castile  was  ex- 
tremely averse,  but  to  which,  urged  by  his  queen,  who 
was  desirous  of  thus  securing  peace  with  Leon,  he  at  last 
consented,  was  not  more  lawful  than  the  first  one  that 
Ferdinand  had  contracted,  the  parties  standing  within 
the  same  degrees  of  consanguinity.  Innocent  III., 
who  then  occupied  the  papal  chair,  refused  to  grant  a 
dispensation,  but  inclination  joining  with  the  more 
solid  considerations  of  state  policy,  the  king  persisted, 
and  was  united  to  his  beautiful  and  accomplished  kins- 
woman. The  nuptials  were  celebrated  with  great 
splendor  in  Valladolid,  where  the  two  sovereigns 
met  for  that  purpose  ;  and  the  dower  of  the  bride  con- 
sisted of  the  towns  her  father  had  previously  taken 
from  her  husband.  Berengaria  gave  birth  to  Ferdi- 
nand, under  whom  the  crowns  of  Leon  and  Castile  were 
subsequently  united  ;  to  Alfonso,  lord  of  Molina  ;  to 
Berengaria,  who  married  John,  king  of  Jerusalem  ;  to 
Leonor,  who  died  in  1202 ;  and  to  Constance,  who 


DOSfA    BERENGARIA.  213 

became  a  nun,  and  died  in  her  convent,  of  Huelgas  de 
Burgos,  in  1242.     The  mutual  attachment  of  the  king 
and  his  consort  prevailed  over  their  religious  scruples, 
and   they   resisted,    for  nine  years,    all   the   pontiff's 
endeavors  to  part  them ;  but  the  kingdom  being  laid 
under  an  interdict,  they  were  obliged,  in  1209,  to  sepa- 
rate.    Berengaria  returned  to  her  father's  dominions, 
and  remained   high  in  honor,  and  greatly  loved  and 
respected  at  his  court,  until  his  death  in  1214.     Al- 
fonso and  his  queen,  both  well  aware  of  the  superior 
intellect  and  abilities  of  their  daughter,  left  her  regent 
of  Castile   at  their  death,  the  heir-apparent,  Henry, 
being  as  yet  but  a  child.     The  ambition  of  the  chief 
of  the  powerful  house  of  Lara  rendered  the  post  of  re- 
gent  one   of  difficulty  and   danger ;    and    foreseeing 
the  anarchy  which  would  ensue,   should  she  attempt 
to  retain  the  reins  in  spite  of  these  turbulent  nobles, 
she  convoked  the  states  at  Burgos,  and  there  abdi- 
cated the  regency  in  favor  of  Count  Alvar  de  Lara. 
Berengaria,   in   whom    love  of  power  was   ever  sub- 
ordinate  to  the   love   of  peace,   thought,    by   taking 
this  step,  to  ensure  a  cessation  of  the  strife  and  dis- 
cord that   had  hitherto  prevailed  among  the   nobles, 
relying  on  the  superior  power  of  the   Laras  to  curb 
that  of  the  rest.     Roderick  the  archbishop,*  returning 
from  Rome,  on  the  eve  of  the  princess's  resignation, 
endeavored   to  dissuade  her  from  so  impolitic  a  pro- 
ceeding ;  but  the  queen  had  gone  too  far  to  recede,  and 
the  prelate  was  obliged  to  content  himself  with  exaot- 
•  The  celebrated  historian. 


214  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

ing  an  oath  from  the  conde,  ere  he  allowed  him  to 
accept  the  regency,  that  he  would  take  no  important 
steps,  impose  no  new  taxes,  nor  make  either  peace  or 
war,  without  consulting  the  queen,  and  that  he  would 
ever  treat  her  with  the  deference  due  to  her  as  the 
daughter,  sister,  and  wife  of  kings.  This  solemn  oath 
proved  a  poor  and  inefficient  barrier  to  the  will  of  Don 
Alvaro,  whose  tyranny  soon  rendered  him  odious.  The 
offended  nobles,  and  especially  Don  Lopez  de  Haro,  son 
of  the  head  of  the  great  house  of  Haro,  and  Don  Gfon- 
zalo  Ruiz  Griroa,  the  lord  high  steward,  resenting  his 
overbearing  insolence  and  unjust  exactions,  repaired  to 
Berengaria,  and  bitterly  complained  of  the  evils  she 
had  occasioned  by  her  resignation  of  the  regency, 
which  they  earnestly  entreated  she  would  resume. 
Though  she  dared  not  oppose  the  all-powerful  conde, 
the  queen  endeavored  by  mild  remonstrances  to  ad- 
just the  differences,  and  remedy  the  mischief.  Having 
sent  for  Don  Alvaro  and  his  two  brothers,  who  shared 
his  authority,  she  reminded  him  of  his  oath,  and  ex- 
horted him  to  use  his  power  with  moderation,  prudence 
and  impartiality  for  the  good  of  the  nation.  Her  ad- 
monition produced  no  beneficial  effects,  and  served  but 
to  enrage  the  imperious  noble,  who,  resenting  her  in- 
terference, seized  the  queen's  estates,  and  banished  her 
from  the  kingdom.  Berengaria,  unable  to  resist  for 
the  time,  retired  to  the  strong  castle  of  Otella,  near 
Palencia,  accompanied  by  her  sister  Eleanor.  Here 
she  was  joined  by  many  of  the  nobles,  among  whom 
came  the  lord  of  Haro,  a!;  the  head  of  his  vassals 


DOSfA    BERENGARIA.  215 

The  regent  had,  on  his  side,  his  own  powerful  con- 
nections, and  by  retaining  the  person  of  the  young 
prince,  greatly  increased  his  adherents.  Henry,  whose 
inclination  led  him  to  side  with  his  amiable  sister, 
vainly  endeavored  to  escape  to  her,  but  Don  Alvaro, 
to  whom  he  was  indispensable,  kept  a  strict  watch 
over  all  his  motions.  To  conciliate  the  youth's 
favor  as  much  as  was  consistent  with  his  safe  keep- 
ing, the  wily  regent  endeavored  to  keep  young  Henry 
amused  with  the  pastimes  most  agreeable  at  his  age, 
and  also  attempted  to  bring  about  a  match  between 
him  and  the  infanta  Malsada,  sister  to  the  king  of 
Portugal,  Don  Alfonso.  This  ridiculous  project  of 
marrying  a  mere  boy  greatly  grieved  Berengaria,  who 
no  sooner  heard  of  it  than  she  wrote  to  the  pope,  re- 
questing his  interference,  and  representing  the  parties 
as  being  too  nearly  allied  to  allow  of  the  marriage  be- 
ing legal.  In  the  meanwhile,  the  ambassadors  sent 
by  Don  Alvaro  having  concluded  the  alliance,  the  nup- 
tials were  celebrated  in  Palencia  in  1216.  The  pope 
having  appointed  Tello  and  Maurice,  bishops  of  Pa- 
lencia and  Burgos,  to  examine  the  case,  the  queen's 
objections  were  pronounced  valid,  and  the  marriage 
annulled.  The  maiden  bride  returned  to  Portugal, 
and  in  the  convent  of  Rucha,  which  she  caused  to  be 
erected,  spent  the  remainder  of  her  life.  Don  Alvaro 
is  said  to  have  presumed  to  make  an  offer  of  his  own 
hand  to  Malsada,  which  was  indignantly  refused  by 
the  princess.  The  enmity  between  Berengaria  and  the 
regent  occasioned  great  confusion,  the  nation  being 


216  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

divided  into  factions,  and  rapine,  incendiarism,  and 
murder  were  rife  in  the  distracted  country.  The  prince 
being  at  Maqueda,  his  sister  attempted  to  open  a 
correspondence  with  him,  but  her  letters  being  inter- 
cepted by  Don  Alvaro,  his  fertile  imagination  sug- 
gested a  scheme  to  render  her  an  object  of  hatred  to 
the  nation.  Having  caused  the  hand  and  seal  to  be 
closely  imitated,  he  published  letters  purporting  to  be 
from  her,  and  containing  injunctions  to  some  of  her 
partisans  to  poison  the  prince.  To  give  some  color  to 
this  calumny,  the  queen's  messenger  was  strangled. 
The  fraud  having  been  discovered,  the  inhabitants  of 
Maqueda  were  so  much  incensed  that  they  rose,  en 
masse,  against  the  slandering  conde,  and  had  certainly 
slain  him,  but  that  he  escaped  to  Hueta  with  his 
royal  prisoner.  Thither  the  queen  sent  another  mes- 
senger to  the  prince,  to  inform  him  of  the  state  of  af- 
fairs, and  concert  with  him  some  plan  of  escape.  Don 
Alvaro's  spies,  however,  were  too  much  on  the  alert, 
and  the  queen's  trusty  adherent  was  seized  and  im- 
prisoned, though,  fearful  of  again  incurring  popular 
rage,  the  regent  dared  not  attempt  his  life,  but 
vented  his  anger  on  all  whom  he  suspected  of  favoring 
his  adversary.  Having  assembled  his  forces,  he  laid 
siege  to  Montalegre,  whose  lord,  Don  Suero  Tellez 
G-iron,  though  provided  with  ample  means  of  sustain- 
ing a  long  siege,  being  summoned  in  the  young  king's 
name,  surrendered.  From  thence  he  moved  to  attack 
Carrion  and  Villalon.  Don  Alfonso  de  Meneses,  who 
held  the  latter  place,  was  out  of  town  at  the  time,  but, 


DONA    BERENGARIA.  21? 

attended  by  a  few  of  his  followers,  he  cut  his  way 
through  the  enemy ;  and  though,  in  so  doing,  the  greater 
part  of  his  servants  were  killed  and  himself  desperately 
wounded,  succeeded  in  effecting  his  entrance  into  the 
town,  which  he  so  stoutly  defended  that  the  besiegers 
were  compelled  to  withdraw.  Having  taken  Cala- 
horra,  the  regent  carried  the  war  into  Biscay,  against 
its  lord,  Don  Lopez  de  Haro,  but  the  mountainous  na- 
ture of  the  country,  and  the  attachment  of  the  inhab- 
itants to  their  chieftain,  foiled  all  his  efforts,  and, 
after  a  protracted  warfare,  he  was  obliged  to  return, 
without  having  gained  any  advantages.  Don  Lope 
then  joined  the  queen  at  Otella.  Some  authors  assert, 
that  a  marriage  was  at  this  time  negociated  between 
Henry  and  Sancha,  daughter  of  the  king  of  Leon  by 
his  first  wife,  one  of  the  conditions  being,  that  she 
should  inherit  the  throne  of  Leon,  to  the  exclusion  of 
Ferdinand,  that  monarch's  son  by  Berengaria.  An 
unforeseen  event  now  occurred,  and  completely  changed 
the  face  of  affairs.  While  at  play,  with  youths  of  his 
own  age,  in  the  court  of  the  bishop's  palace  in  Burgos, 
a  tile  fell  from  the  roof  on  the  prince's  head,  wounding 
him  so  severely  that  he  survived  but  eleven  days, 
dyirj?  on  the  6th  of  June,  1217,  in  the"  fourteenth 
year  of  his  age,  and  the  third  of  his  reign.  The  late 
kin^  Henry  had  two  sisters  older  than  himself — 
Blanche,  married  to  Louis,  son  of  Philip  Augustus,  king 
of  France  ;  and  Berengaria,  who  had  been  married  to 
and  divorced  from  the  king  of  Leon.  Blanche,  being 
the  eldest,  had  undoubtedly  the  best  right  to  the 


218  THK    qUEK.VS    OF    SI'AIN. 

crown;  but  her  alliance  with  a  foreign  prince,  her  con- 
sequent estrangement  from  her  native  land,  and  the 
love  the  people  bore  to  Berengaria,  who  had  dwelt 
long  among  them,  and  whose  winning  manners  and 
sterling  good  qualities  had  won  universal  good  will, 
decided  the  point  in  favor  of  the  younger  sister.  A 
large  number  of  the  nobles  having  met,  declared  in  favor 
of  her  right  to  the  crown.  It  being  necessary  that  mat- 
ters should  be  settled  ere  the  king  of  Leon  should  hear 
of  the  death  of  Henry,  lest  he  might  be  tempted  to 
lay  claim  to  the  crown  in  right  of  his  wife,  though 
separated  from  her,  messengers  were  sent  to  desire 
he  would  send  to  Berengaria  her  son  Ferdinand,  as 
she  required  his  assistance.  The  king,  ignorant  of  the 
important  event  that  had  transpired,  immediately  com- 
plied with  the  request ;  and  on  the  prince's  arrival  at 
Otella,  the  queen  made  over  to  him  her  right  and 
title  to  the  throne.  The  urgency  of  the  case  preclud- 
ing the  using  much  ceremony  on  the  occasion,  the 
prince  was  crowned  at  Najara,  under  an  elm-tree. 
Don  Alvaro  himself  contributed  to  the  success  of  the 
queen's  schemes,  as,  to  further  his  own  designs,  he 
concealed  young  Henry's  death  for  some  time  from  the 
people,  carrying  the  body  about  with  him  in  a  litter, 
and  issuing  commands  in  his  name.  The  queen  ana 
her  son  having  gone  to  Valladolid,  the  latter  was  there 
again  proclaimed  sovereign  of  Castile  by  the  assembled 
Cortes,  in  a  large  open  space  in  the  suburbs,  and  from 
thence  having  been  conveyed  to  the  cathedral,  he  there 
received  the  oath  of  allegiance.  By  the  advice  of  the 


IX)  .N  A    BERENGARIA.  219 

nobles,  overtures  of  peace  were  made  to  Don  Alvaro, 
but  his  insolent  pretension  to  become  the  guardian  of 
the  new  monarch  caused  them  to  be  of  no  avail.  Fer- 
dinand was  at  the  time  about  eighteen.  The  king  of 
Leon,  enraged  at  the  duplicity  practised  upon  him, 
jealous  of  his  son's  sudden  elevation,  and  offended  at 
matters  having  been  arranged  without  his  participation 
or  knowledge,  invaded  Castile.  Berengaria  sent  two 
bishops  to  endeavor  to  appease  him  ;  but,  secure  of  the 
co-operation  of  Don  Alvaro,  he  refused  to  listen  to  any 
argument  they  could  offer,  and  continued  to  advance 
until  the  energetic  measures  and  bravery  of  Don  Lope 
de  Haro  compelled  him  to  retreat  to  his  own  dominions. 
Don  Alvaro  having  at  length  consented  to  the  body  of 
the  late  king  being  interred,  it  was  delivered  to  Beren- 
garia, who  caused  it  to  be  buried  with  regal  honors  at 
Huelgas,  by  the  side  of  his  brother  Ferdinand,  The 
death  of  Don  Alvaro,  and  pacification  of  the  whole 
kingdom  soon  followed.  In  1219,  Berengaria  having 
negotiated  a  marriage  between  her  son  Ferdinand  and 
Beatrix,  daughter  of  Philip  Augustus,  went  as  far  as 
the  borders  of  Biscay  to  receive  the  bride.  Within  a 
short  time  after,  the  Aragonians,  having  sent  ambas- 
sadors to  Castile,  to  ask  the  hand  of  Leonor,  sister  of 
Berengaria,  for  their  young  sovereign  James  II.,  the 
queen-dowager  accompanied  her  sister  to  Agreda,  on 
the  bwders  of  Castile  and  Aragon,  where  the  nuptials 
were  celebrated.  In  1224,  having  established  peace 
in  his  own  dominions,  Ferdinand  undertook  a  war 
against  the  Moors,  and  obtained  great  advantages  over 


220  THI;   QUEK.MS   or   SPAIX. 

them.  Whatever  success  this  king  obtained,  he  no 
doubt  owed  to  his  rnother's  prudent  and  wise  counsels. 
Berengaria,  who  had  herself  been  the  nurse  of  her  son 
Ferdinand  from  his  earliest  years,  instilled  into  his 
mind  the  soundest  principles  of  morality,  Christian 
wisdom,  and  civil  policy.  She  now  found  herself 
amply  repaid  in  the  respect  and  affection  of  her  son, 
who  never  failed  to  consult  her  in  all  his  undertak- 
ings, and  invariably  left  her  regent  during  Ins  expedi- 
tions. In  all  the  important  events  of  Ferdinand's  life, 
we  find  his  mother  taking  an  active  part,  and  entrusted 
by  him  with  full  power.  On  the  death,  in  1230,  of 
his  father,  Alfonso  X.,  Berengaria  was  appointed  to 
negotiate  with  Teresa,  the  first  wife  of  the  deceased 
sovereign,  the  renunciation  of  the  rights  to  the  crown 
of  Leon  of  the  two  princesses,  his  daughters  by  Teresa, 
which  would  secure  to  her  son  the  pacific  possession  of 
another  throne.  In  1238,  we  find  this  indefatigable 
mother  negotiating  an  alliance  between  her  son.  then  a 
widower,  and  the  lady  Joanna,  daughter  of  the  Count 
of  Poitiers.  And,  again,  at  the  latter  end  of  the  year 
1242,  we  find  the  king,  at  the  close  of  a  successful 
campaign  against  the  infidels,  spending  forty-five  days 
at  Pozuelo,  (now  CuidadRodrigo),  to  treat  of  important 
affairs  with  his  mother,  who  awaited  him  there  for 
that  purpose.  This  truly  great  and  good  queen  died 
at  an  advanced  age,  in  1245,  greatly  lamented,  not 
only  by  her  own  family,  who  were  indebted  to  her  for 
their  continued  prosperity,  but  also  by  the  nation, 
whose  welfare  had  been  the  constant  study  of  her  long 
and  well- spent  life. 


DOS  A    BEATRIX    DE    SUE  VIA.  221 

DONA  BEATRIX   DE'  SUEVIA. 

(ttTTEEN    OF    CASTILE.) 

1219. 
(UUKEN    OF    LEON     AND    CASTILE-') 

1230. 
REIGN    OF    FERDINAND    III.    (THE    SAINT.) 

BEATRIX,  daughter  of  Philip,  Duke  of  Suevia.,  and 
of  his  wife  Irene,  was  the  first  German  princess  that 
sat  on  a  Spanish  throne.  Her  nuptials  with  Ferdi- 
nand III.,  at  that  time  king  of  Castile  only,  were  cele- 
brated with  great  pomp  and  magnificence,  in  Burgos, 
on  the  27th  of  November  of  the  year  1219.  In  Novem- 
ber of  the  following  year,  the  queen  gave  birth  to  her 
eldest  son,  Alfonso,  who  subsequently  ascended  the 
throne,  and  was  surnamed  the  Wise  and  the  Astrolo- 
ger. The  birth  of  this  prince  was  followed  by  those 
of  six  sons  and  two  daughters  :  Frederick,  Ferdinand, 
Henry,  Philip,  Sancho,  and  Manuel,  Leonor  and  Be- 
rengaria.  The  German  names  of  Frederick  and 
Philip,  and  the  Greek  one  of  Manuel,*  were  now,  for 
the  first  time,  introduced  in  Spain  by  the  queen,  who 
named  these  sons  after  her  own  relatives.  Leonor  died 

•Manuel,  youngest  son  of  Ferdinand,  by  his  wife  Beatrix,  was 
first  married  to  Constance,  daughter  of  James  I.,  king  of  Aragon, 
and  after  her  death  to  Beatrix  of  Savoy,  by  whom  he  had  Don 
Juan  Manuel,  so  often  mentioned  in  the  subsequent  reigns  of  San- 
cho the  Brave,  and  Ferdinand  the  Summoned. 


222  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

young,  and  Berengaria  took  the  veil,  in  the  convent 
of  Huelgas.  The  beauty  and  virtues  of  Beatrix  are 
highly  extolled  in  the  annals  of  those  times,  and  her 
piety  is  said  to  have  equalled  that  of  her  husband.  As 
a  convincing  proof  of  the  religious  zeal  of  the  latter,  we 
are  told  that  he  set  fire  with  his  own  royal  hands,  to 
the  faggots  that  were  to  consume  the  condemned  her- 
etics !  It  may  be  objected  that  the  titles  of  Great  and 
Saint  are  ill  bestowed  on  a  prince  who  could  thus  out- 
rage the  laws  of  humanity,  but  what  would  appear  in 
the  present  day  a  deed  of  monstrous  cruelty  was  then 
a  meritorious  and  praiseworthy  action,  heretics  being 
regarded  in  the  light  of  noxious,  plague-tainted  beings, 
whose  existence  endangered  the  weal  of  the  commu- 
nity, and  whose  impurity  could  be  purged  by  fire 
alone.  The  same  man  who  would  have  recoiled  with 
horror  from  inflicting  the  slightest  pain  on  a  strict 
believer  in  the  same  dogmas,  would  stifle  all  feelings 
of  pity,  as  criminal,  where  an  infidel  was  concerned. 
Nor  can  this  relentless  and  bigoted  cruelty  be  ascribed 
to  the  Catholic  faith  alone,  for  scarcely  a  creed  is  ex- 
empted from  the  same  reproach,  and  we  shall  find,  if  we 
examine  the  subject  with  impartiality,  that  ignorance 
and  superstition  have  prevailed  to  as  great  a  degree, 
and  exercised  as  baleful  an  influence,  among  Protes- 
tants as  among  Catholics. 

After  a  peaceful  and  prosperous  reign,  Doiia  Bea- 
trix died  in  1235V  having  worn  the  diadem  of  Castile, 
sixteen  years,  and  that  of  Leon  five. 


DONA    JUANA.  223 

DONA  JUANA. 
(QUEEN  OF  CASTILE  AND  LEON.) 

1237. 
(SECOND  WIFE   OF  FERDINAND   HI.) 

THE  death  of  Beatrix  leaving  Ferdinand  a  widower, 
his  indefatigable  and  politic  mother  immediately  began 
to  cast  about  for  a  princess  worthy  of  taking  the 
place  of  the  late  queen.  The  lady  selected,  with  her 
usual  tact,  by  the  dowager  queen,  was  Juana,  daugh- 
ter of  Simon  Count  of  Daummartin  and  Boulogne,  by 
his  wife,  Maria,  Countess  of  Ponthieu.  The  marriage 
was  celebrated  in  1237,  in  the  town  of  Burgos. 

Juana  had  been  contracted  to  Henry  III.,  king  of 
England,  but  it  having  been  ascertained  that  the  par- 
ties were  within  the  degrees  of  consanguinity  prohib- 
ited by  the  church,  the  match  was  broken  off.*  This 
queen  gave  birth  to  Ferdinand,  Leonor,  and  Louis,  the 
French  name  of  the  latter  being  for  the  first  time 
given  to  a  Spanish  prince.  Of  her  three  children,  the 
daughter  alone  survived  the  queen.  This  princess 
was,  during  the  reign  of  her  half-brother  Alfonso,  mar- 
Note. — Juana  was  the  great  grand-daughter  of  Louis  VII.,  of 
France,  by  his  third  wife,  Alix. 

*The  true  reason  is  said  to  have  been  the  attachment  Henry  had 
subsequently  formed  for  the  lovely  Eleanora  of  Provence,  as  a  dis- 
pensation could  have  been  obtained  for  his  marriage  with  Juana, 
but  the  king  sent  to  recall  the  ambassadors  who  were  on  their 
way  to  solicit  it,  and  had  nearly  reached  Rome. 


224  THK    QUEENS    OF    SI'AIN. 

ried  to  Edward,  the  Black  prince,  t  son  of  Henry  III., 
her  mother's  former  suitor.  The  death,  in  1252,  of  the 
husband  with  whom  she  had  lived  happily  fifteen 
years,  though  it  took  from  Juana  the  honors  of  a 
reigning  queen,  caused  no  diminution  in  the  respect 
paid  to  her  by  her  step-son,  Alfonso,  who  confirmed  the 
jointure  settled  on  her  by  his  father.  Three  years 
after  the  death  of  Ferdinand,  Juana  returned  to  her 
own  country,  and  in  1260,  contracted  a  second  mar- 
riage with  John  of  Nesle,  lord  of  Faluy  and  Herelle, 
by  whom  she  had  a  son,  or,  according  to  some  authors, 
a  daughter,  Juana  de  Nesle.  Dona  Juana  died  on  the 
16th  March,  1278,  leaving  her  domains  of  Ponthieu 
and  Monstruell,  to  her  daughter  Leonora,  wile  of  the 
prince  of  "Wales,  who  with  her  husband,  entered  on 
possession  of  her  inheritance  in  June  of  the  following 
year. 

t  This  prince  visited  the  court  of  Castile,  in  order  to  claim  his 
betrothed  bride,  in  1254.  He  was  received  with  great  pomp  and 
knighted  by  Alfonso  himself,  then  the  reigning  monarch.  The 
prince  of  Wales,  was  accompanied  by  his  mother,  the  accomplished 
and  still  beautiful,  Eleanora  of  Provence. 


VIOLANTE.  225 

VIOLANTE. 

OF    LEON    AND    CASTILE.) 
1248. 

(REIGN  OF  ALFONSO  xr.,  SURNAMED  THE  WISE  AND  THE 

ASTROLOGER.) 

THIS  princess  was  the  daughter  of  James  the  Con- 
queror, king  of  Aragon,  by  his  second  wife,  Violante 
of  Hungary.  In  1248,  she  was  married  to  Alfonso, 
heir  presumptive  of  Castile  and  Leon,  and  on  the 
death  of  her  father-in-law,  Ferdinand  III.,  her  husband 
ascended  the  throne.  The  alliance  between  Aragon  and 
Castile,  of  which  the  union  of  Alfonso  and  Violante 
had  been  the  pledge,  was  neither  sincere  nor  durable. 
The  ambition  of  Alfonso,  ever  on  the  alert  to  extend  his 
own  dominions  at  the  expense  of  his  father-in-law,  was 
the  fertile  source  of  frequent  broils,  and,  in  the  very 
first  year  of  his  marriage,  had  nearly  led  to  an  open 
rupture.  The  young  prince  of  Castile,  not  content 
with  interfering  with  his  martial  father-in-law's  con- 
quests over  the  Moors,  demanded  as  part  of  his  wife's 
dower,  the  town  of  Xativa,  which  the  Aragonian  mon- 
arch indignantly  refused  to  cede,  and  the  dispute  was 
with  difficulty  settled.  It  is  probable  that  the  Cas- 
tilian  entertained  but  little  affection  for  his  young 
wife,  as  in  1253,  under  pretext  of  her  sterility,  he  endea- 
vored to  obtain  a  separation,  and,  even  before  it  was 
effected,  so  sure  was  he  of  the  pope's  consent,  that  he 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

sent  ambassadors  to  solicit  the  hand  of  Christina 
princess  of  Norway.  The  event  proved  he  had  been 
too  hasty,  for  ere  the  arrival  of  the  destined  bride,  who 
was  to  take  her  place,  the  queen  had  given  unequiv- 
ocal hopes  of  an  heir.  Alfonso  was  thus  thrown  into 
great  perplexity,  from  which  he  could  find  no  better 
issue  than  marrying  the  disappointed  princess  to  his 
brother  Philip,  who  had  been  intended  for  the  church, 
and  even  elected  Archbishop  of  Seville.  The  queen 
gave  birth  to  Berengaria,  her  first-born  child,  in  1253, 
and  in  December  of  the  following  year  to  her  second 
daughter,  Beatrix.  The  birth,  in  1255,  of  her  son 
Fernando,  sworn  heir  to  a  crown  he  was  never  to 
wear,  was  followed  by  that  of  Sancho,  who  succeeded 
to  the  throne.  The  other  children  of  Violante  were 
Pedro,  Juan,  James,  Violante,  Isabel  and  Leonor. 

The  sweetness  of  temper,  and  winning  manners  of 
the  queen  were  of  great  use  in  conciliating  the  differ- 
ences that  occurred  between  the  king  and  his  brother 
Philip,  and  other  nobles,  in  1274. 

Her  prudence  and  amiability  having  obtained  a 
peaceful  settlement  of  the  dispute  on  far  better  terms 
than  those  the  king  had  been  willing  to  accede  to,  the 
latter  expressed  himself  highly  pleased.  Alfonso  hav- 
ing, in  the  following  year,  left  Spain  in  order  to  assume 
the  imperial  crown,  to  which  he  had  been  elected, 
named  the  queen,  in  union  with  her  son  Ferdinand,  to 
the  regency  of  the  kingdom  during  his  absence,  which 
was  not,  however,  of  long  duration,  not  only  on  account 
of  his  meeting  with  the  pope  in  Provence,  but  also  of  the 


VIOLANTB.  227 

disturbances  occasioned  by  the  Moors,  and  the  death,  in 
his  twenty-first  year,  of  the  crown  prince.  On  his 
return,  the  king  found  the  state  of  affairs  much  better 
than  he  had  been  led  to  expect ;  the  valor  and  activity 
of  his  second  son,  Sancho,  having  given  a  decided 
check  to  the  Moors.  So  pleased  was  the  king  with 
his  conduct  on  this  occasion,  that  he  caused  him  to  be 
sworn  as  his  successor  to  the  throne,  in  preference  to 
the  sons  of  the  late  prince,  Don  Fernando  de  la  Cerda.* 
The  queen  was  exceedingly  grieved  at  the  injustice 
done  to  her  grandchildren,  and  fearing  lest  the  ambi- 
tion of  Sancho  might  endanger  the  safety  of  these 
rightful  heirs,  she  determined  to  ensure  it  by  confiding 
them  to  the  protection  of  her  brother,  the  king  of  Ara- 
gon.  To  this  effect,  under  pretence  of  going  to  Gua- 
dalajara, she  left  the  court  of  Castile  and,  with  her 
daughter-in-law,  Blanche  of  France,  and  the  two 
young  princes,  arrived  in  Aragon,  in  the  beginning  of 
1277,  at  the  commencement  of  the  reign  of  Don  Pedro 
III.  Alfonso  being  informed  of  the  queen's  designs, 
and  aware  of  the  evils  that  would  accrue  from  the 
residence  of  his  grandchildren  at  the  court  of  his  pow- 
erful neighbor,  sent  in  pursuit  of  the  fugitives,  but  in 
vain,  as  they  had  already  passed  the  frontiers.  Don 
Sancho  also  wrote  to  his  mother,  entreating  she  would 
return,  and  his  persuasions  at  length  proving  effective, 
provided  a  large  sum  to  defray  the  expense  of  her  re- 
turn and  the  debts  she  had  incurred  during  her  resi- 

*  De  La  Cerda,  so  called  from  having  been  born  with  hair  on 
his  chest. 


THE    QUEENS    OP    SPAIN. 

dence  of  two  years  in  Aragon.  Though  Violante  had 
manifested  such  solicitude  for  the  infantes  de  la  Cerda, 
she  proved  herself,  subsequently,  entirely  destitute  of 
firmness  in  the  disputes  that  took  place  between  the 
king  and  prince  Sancho,  in  which  the  former,  exaspe- 
rated by  the  ingratitude  of  his  son,  vainly  endeavored 
to  deprive  him  of  the  right  of  succession,  which  he 
himself  had  bestowed  on  him.  and  substitute  his  dis- 
inherited grandchildren. 

Violante  now  openly  sided  with  her  second  son,  who 
since  her  return  from  Aragon  had  treated  her  with 
marked  deference,  associating  her  with  him  in  the 
administration  of  justice  in  his  progress  through  the 
towns  of  Castile  and  Leon,  during  which  she  accom- 
panied him.  The  quarrel  between  the  father  and  son 
soon  waxed  high,  and  the  queen,  not  content  with  thus 
favoring  the  son,  gave  the  sanction  of  her  presence  to 
the  Cortes,  assembled  in  1282,  in  which  Alfonso  was 
deposed  and  the  title  of  king  bestowed  on  Don  Sancho. 
Alfonso  survived  this  blow  but  two  years,  dying  on 
the  4th  of  April,  1284. 

This  monarch,  whose  weak  and  impolitic  conduct 
render  him  little  deserving  the  title  of  the  Wise, 
might  with  greater  propriety  be  designated  as  the 
Learned,  his  acquirements  being  extraordinary  for 
that  age.  Of  his  proficiency  in  astronomy  he  has  left 
us  a  proof  in  the  Astronomical  tables  which  he 
composed ;  and  that  science  being  then  usually  con- 
founded with  that  of  astrology,  he  was  surnamed 
the  Astrologer.  His  knowledge  of  jurisprudence  is 


VIOLANTE.  229 

evinced  in  the  compilation  of  the  Laws  of  the  Partidas 
from  the  Justinian  and  Wisigothic  Code.*  There  is 
also  a  chronicle  bearing  his  name.  But  like  James 
the  I.,  of  England,  with  all  his  knowledge,  he  was 
utterly  destitute  of  sense  and  judgment,  and  might  be 
justly  called  a  learned  fool.  Devoid  of  firmness  and 
resolution,  his  very  weakness  often  caused  him  to  per- 
petrate acts  of  excessive  cruelty,  one  of  which  has  left 
an  indelible  stain  on  his  memory,  and  took  place  on 
the  occasion  of  the  queen's  flight  into  Aragon.  Alfonso 
suspecting  Violante  had  been  advised  to  this  step  by 
his  brother  Don  Frederico,  and  Don  Simon  Ruiz,  Lord 
of  Cameros,  son-in-law  of  Frederico,  gave  orders  for 
their  immediate  apprehension,  and  that  the  latter 
should  be  burned  alive,  and  the  former  strangled,  with- 
out even  the  semblance  of  a  trial.  This  unparallelled 
cruelty  is  said  to  have  been  occasioned  by  the  king's 
astrological  studies,  the  stars  having  predicted  that  one 
of  his  own  blood  would  dethrone  him.  This  atrocious 
deed  did  not  save  the  credulous  monarch  from  the 
fate  he  had  endeavored  to  evade,  his  son  Sancho  subse- 
quently verifying  his  prognostics.  The  pretensions  of 
the  weak,  yet  ambitious  monarch,  to  Suevia,  in  right 
of  his  mother,  Beatrix,  the  daughter  of  Philip,  Duke  of 
Suevia  and  Emperor  of  Germany,  and  his  obstinate 
persistence  in  aspiring  to  the  imperial  dignity,  involved 

*  Alfonso  also  caused  the  Bible  to  be  translated  into  Spanish,  and 
was  the  first  king  who  ordered  that  language  to  be  used  in  public 
writings  and  documents,  Latin  having  previously  been  used  in  all 
matters  of  jurisprudence  and  divinity. 


• 
230  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

Alfonso  in  a  lavish  expenditure  in  support  of  his  claims, 
that  greatly  incensed  his  subjects.  In  his  disputes 
with  his  nobles,  he  evinced  a  pusillanimity  that  sub- 
jected him  to  their  contempt,  and  led  in  the  end  to  the 
majority  favoring  the  cause  of  his  ungrateful,  but 
brave  and  able  son.  Having  repented  of  his  injustice 
to  the  children  of  his  elder  son,  he  vainly  attempted  to 
remedy  it  by  disinheriting  Sancho,  and  excluding  him 
from  the  succession,  and  the  pope  also  interfering  in 
behalf  of  the  deposed  king,  and  placing  the  kingdom 
tinder  an  interdict,  until  he  should  be  reinstated  in  his 
rights,  the  tide  began  to  change  and  many  nobles  re- 
turned to  their  allegiance.  Sancho  finding  himself 
losing  ground,  endeavored  to  procure  a  reconciliation, 
and  would  probably  have  been  willing  to  purchase  it 
by  concessions,  but  at  this  crisis,  the  prince  falling 
dangerously  ill,  his  danger  revived  in  the  old  king  his 
natural  affection  for  his  former  favorite,  and  he  pre- 
pared to  revoke  his  last  will,  and  again  constitute  him 
heir  to  the  crown.  Anxiety,  however,  had  brought  on 
a  disease  that  carried  him  off,  ere  he  could  fulfil  his 
intentions,  and  Sancho  recovered  to  find  himself  har- 
rassed  by  the  thousand  cares  attending  a  disputed 
succession. 

The  death  of  the  king  opened  the  eyes  of  his  widow 
to  the  error  she  had  committed  in  favoring  the  cause  of 
her  son,  who,  it  now  became  evident,  considered  his 
weak  and  fickle  mother  as  a  mere  tool  to  ensure  the 
success  of  his  ambitious  schemes.  Violante  was  now 
of  no  farther  use  to  the  prince,  who  treated  her  with 


DOSfA    MARIA    LA    GRANDK.  231 

indifference  and  neglect.  Having  joined  the  party  of 
her  third  son,  Juan,  and  her  grandchildren,  who  had 
erected  their  standard,  and  agreed  to  divide  the  king- 
dom between  them  after  the  death  of  Sancho,  she 
was  foiled  in  her  endeavors  by  the  prudence  and 
firmness  of  Sancho's  widow,  the  regent  Dona  Maria, 
and  in  1295,  she  had  the  mortification  to  see  the  city 
of  Valladolid  close  its  gates  at  her  approach.  This 
insult  greatly  incensed  her,  and  she  vowed  vengeance 
on  the  insolent  townsmen  ;  but  these  threats  were  idle, 
as  she  never  had  it  in  her  power  to  execute  them.  De- 
prived of  the  towns  and  lordships  that  belonged  to  her, 
Yiolante  lived  poor  and  despised,  and  died  at  an  ad- 
vanced age,  in  Roncesvalles,  on  her  return  from  a  pil- 
grimage to  Rome.  The  date  of  her  death  is  not 
recorded. 


DONA  MARIA  LA  GRANDE. 

QUEEN     CONSORT. 

1284. 

REIGN  OF  SANCHO  IV.,   (THE  BRAVE.) 

DONA  MARIA  ALFONSO  DE  MOLINA,  was  the  daughter, 
.  by  his  third  wife,  Dona  Mayor  Alfonso  de  Meneses,  of 
the  infante  Don  Alfonso  de  Molina,  brother  of  St.  Fer- 
dinand.     In  1281,    Maria  was  married   in  Toledo  to 
Sancho,  second  son  of  Alfonso  the  Wise,  king  of  Castile. 


232  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

The  prince  had  previously  been  contracted  to  Dona 
Gruillerma  de  Moncada,  daughter  of  Gaston,  Viscount 
of  Bearne,  niece  of  Don  Lope  de  Haro,  and  the  richest 
heiress  of  Castile,  though  as  deficient  in  beauty  as  in 
temper.  Fortunately,  both  for  the  domestic  happiness 
of  Sancho  and  the  welfare  of  the  nation,  the  match  was 
broken  off,  and  a  lady  chosen  who  seemed  designedly 
endowed  by  a  kind  Providence,  with  the  qualities  that 
so  eminently  fitted  her  for  the  high  post  she  was  to 
fill.  The  marriage  was  not,  however,  in  accordance 
with  the  canons  of  the  church,  and,  though  a  dispen- 
sation was  solicited  from  the  pope,  it  was  not  granted 
until  after  the  death  of  Sancho.  In  1282,  Saricho 
having  rebelled  against  his  father,  was  so  successful, 
that  the  assembled  Cortes  in  Valladolid  declared  in 
his  favor,  but  he  refused  the  title  of  king  during  the 
life  of  Don  Alfonso,  to  whom  he  left  the  empty  name, 
while  he  himself  exercised  the  authority  of  a  sovereign. 
In  1283,  Maria  gave  birth  to  a  daughter,  to  whom  was 
given  the  name  of  Isabel,  and  who  was  subsequently 
betrothed  to  James  II.,  of  Aragon.  On  the  death  of 
Alfonso,  which  took  place  in  Seville,  on  the  4th  of 
April,  1284,  Sancho  and  Maria  were  crowned,  in  Tole- 
do, sovereigns  of  Castile,  and  their  daughter  proclaim- 
ed heiress  to  the  crown.  Previous  to  the  accession  of 
Sancho  to  the  throne,  Martin  IV.,  who  then  occu- 
pied the  papal  chair,  had,  influenced  by  the  king  of 
France,  who  was  desirous  his  sister  should  marry  the 
Castilian  prince,  ordered  the  latter  to  separate  from  his 
wife;  but  this  Sancho  peremptorily  refused  to  do,  and 


DOSfA    MARIA    LA    GRANDE.  233 

the  abbot  of  Valladolid,  who  had  been  the  medium  of 
the  proposal  of  the  French  king,  was  never  forgiven  by 
Maria  the  active  part  he  had  taken  in  the  negotiation. 
In  1285,  the  queen  gave  birth  to  a  son,  who  was  named 
Fernando,  and  sworn  heir,  and  in  the  following  year  to 
another,  who  was  named  Alfonso,  and  who  died  in 
1291.  Though  the  strongest  of  all  ties  united  the 
royal  pair,  and  seemed  to  ensure  the  duration  of  San- 
cho's  affection  for  his  queen,  it  was,  for  a  time,  mate- 
rially affected  by  the  intrigues  of  Don  Lope  de  Haro. 
This  noble  had,  during  the  troubles  of  the  preceding 
reign,  sided  with  the  prince  against  the  king,  and  by 
aiding  and  abetting  him  in  his  rebellion,  acquired 
great  influence  over  him,  which  he  now  used  to  endea- 
vor to  effect  a  separation  between  him  and  the  queen. 
This  end  obtained,  the  ambitious  favorite  had  no  doubt 
that  the  king  would  be  easily  induced  to  marry  Dona 
Gruillerma,  and  thus  firmly  consolidate  the  power 
of  the  great  house  of  Haro.  Though  sorely  tried,  the 
queen  opposed  an  unalterable  patience  and  sweetness  of 
temper  to  the  insolent  encroachments  of  the  foe  of  her 
domestic  peace,  though  he  neglected  no  occasion  of 
irritating  her.  Dona  Maria  Fernandez  Coronel,  to 
whom  the  queen  was  much  attached,  and  who  had 
been  her  governess,  and  was  then  acting  in  the 
same  capacity  to  the  infanta  Isabel,  was,  through  the 
influence  of  Don  Lope,  dismissed  from  court.  But  the 
Efforts  of  the  favorite,  failed  to  create  any  permanent 
ill-feeling  between  the  sovereigns,  the  prudence  of  the 
queen  foiling  all  his  schemes.  The  ascendancy  of  Don 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

Lope  over  the  king,  and  his  imprudent  and  overbear- 
ing conduct  at  length  roused  the  anger  of  many  of  the 
nobles,  and  their  complaints,  backed  by  the  advice  of 
his  nephew  the  king  of  Portugal,  at  length  opening 
the  eyes  of  Sancho,  he  endeavored  to  remedy  the  evil 
and  restrict  the  sway  of  the  Lord  of  Biscay.  This, 
however,  was  not  easily  to  be  accomplished.  The  pow- 
erful noble  was  supported  by  a  strong  party,  and  could 
count  among  his  adherents,  members  of  the  royal  fam- 
ily, Don  Juan,  the  king's  brother,  having  married  the 
daughter  of  Don  Lope,  who  had  himself  married  the 
queen's  sister.  Relying  on  his  powerful  connections, 
the  favorite  replied  with  insolence  to  the  king's  de- 
mands, and  words  growing  high,  Don  Lope  and  his 
son-in-law  forgot  themselves  so  far  as  to  draw  their 
swords  on  their  sovereign.  In  the  scuffle  that  ensued, 
two  of  the  king's  attendants  having  been  desperately 
wounded  by  Don  Lope,  the  hand  of  the  latter  was 
cut  off  and  he  was  finally  despatched.  The  infante 
himself  took  refuge  in  the  queen's  apartment,  whither 
he  was  pursued  by  the  king,  who  would  have  slain 
him  on  the  instant,  had  not  the  queen  interposed  to 
appease  his  just  anger.  Don  Juan,  however,  was 
heavily  ironed  and  thrown  into  prison,  from  whence 
he  was  released  shortly  after  through  the  intercession 
of  Dona  Maria.  Although  the  king  immediately  be- 
sieged and  took  the  town  of  Haro  and  castles  belong- 
ing to  Don  Lope,  he  commissioned  Dona  Juana,  widow 
of  the  deceased,  who  was  then  with  her  sister  the 
queen,  to  endeavor  to  pacify  her  son,  the  new  lord, 


DOSfA  MARIA   LA    GRANDE.  235 

offering  to  extend  his  favor  to  him  and  reinstate  him 

O 

in  his  father's  possessions.  •  Though  Dofia  Juana  prom- 
ised to  second  the  king's  wishes,  she  was  no  sooner  out 
of  his  power,  than  she  used  all  her  influence  to  incite 
her  son  to  revenge  his  father's  death.  No  arguments 
were  necessary  to  inflame  the  hot-headed  Don  Diego, 
who,  having  first  taken  measures  to  secure  the  safety 
of  his  sister  Dona  Maria  Diaz  de  Haro,  wife  of  the 
imprisoned  infante,  by  removing  her  to  Navarre,  re- 
nounced his  allegiance  and  passed  over  into  Aragon. 
There.  Don  Diego,  being  joined  by  his  uncle  Graston, 
viscount  of  Bearne,  the  king  of  Aragon  agreed  to 
unite  with  them  in  supporting  the  claims  of  the  infan- 
tes de  la  Cerda,  and  these  princes  having  been  released 
from  the  castle  of  Xativa,  after  a  captivity  of  ten  years, 
Don  Alfonso,  the  eldest,  was  crowned  king  of  Castile, 
in  the  town  of  Jaen,  in  September  of  the  year  1288. 
Though  the  death  of  Don  Diego,  the  only  son  of  Don 
Lope,  within  a  year  of  his  father's  death  was  a  severe 
blow  to  the  party  of  the  infantes  de  la  Cerda,  the  great 
house  of  Haro  being  now  without  a  head,  yet  this  did 
not  benefit  Don  Sancho,  for  the  uncle  of  the  late  lord 
passed  into  Aragon  with  all  his  followers  to  join  the 
opposite  side.  The  queen,  by  her  tact  and  prudence, 
was  of  the  greatest  use  to  Don  Sancho  in  this  emer- 
gency, her  winning  manners  conciliating  many  who 
would  otherwise  have  gone  over  to  the  La  Cerda's. 
Among  others,  she  won  to  her  husband's  party  one  of 
the  most  powerful  of  the  rebels,  Don  Juan  Nunez  de 
Lara,  to  whose  son  she  gave  a  royal  bride,  in  the  per- 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

son  of  Dona  Isabel  de  Molina,  her  own  niece,  and  lady 
of  the  lordship  of  Molina.  The  fidelity  of  Don  Juan 
Nunez  was,  however,  of  short  duration,  and  his  fre- 
quent rebellions  were  a  source  of  annoyance  to  Maria 
throughout  her  whole  life.  In  1291,  Don  Jaynie  II. 
having  succeeded  his  brother  Alfonso  on  the  throne  of 
Aragon,  Don  Sancho  concluded  a  treaty  with  him,  the 
terms  of  which  were  that  James  should  be  betrothed 
to  the  infanta  Isabel,  then  nine  years  old,  and  marry 
her  as  soon  as  she  came  of  age.  The  queen  accom- 
panied her  daughter  to  Calatayud,  where  the  ceremo- 
nies of  betrothal  took  place,  after  which,  the  young 
princess  accompanied  her  bridegroom  to  the  court 
of  Aragon,  that  she  might  be  educated  in  the 
kingdom  of  which  it  was  intended  she  should  one  day 
be  queen,  Don  Juan,  though  he  had,  on  recovering 
his  freedom,  taken  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  his  brother 
and  the  young  heir  to  the  crown,  soon  joined  the  rebels. 
Being  defeated  by  the  king's  troops  shortly  after,  he 
took  refuge  in  Portugal,  from  whence  being  expelled 
at  the  request  of  Sancho,  he  passed  over  to  Tangier!?, 
where  he  formed  an  alliance  with  Aben  Jusef,  king  of 
the  Moors,  the  latter  furnishing  him  with  5,000  men  to 
undertake  the  conquest  of  Tarifa. 

This  place  was  defended  by  Don  Alfonso  Guzman, 
whose  constant  loyalty  fully  entitled  him  to  the  sur- 
name of  the  Grood,  bestowed  on  him  by  the  king.  A 
young  son  of  Don  Alfonso  having  fallen  into  the  hands 
of  the  besiegers,  the  infante  sent  word  to  the  father 
that  the  surrender  of  the  town  would  be  the  ransom  of 


DONA    MARIA     LA    GRANDE.  237 

his  child,  whose  life  would  be  the  penalty  of  his  refusal 
to  comply  with  the  terms  offered.  Don  Alfonso  him- 
self answered  from  the  walls,  that  the  town  belonged 
to  his  master,  and  that  so  far  from  seeking  to  redeem 
his  child's  life  at  the  expense  of  his  honor,  he  would 
furnish  them  with  the  means  of  executing  their  threat. 
So  saying,  he  threw  his  own  sword  to  the  besiegers 
and  retired  from  the  walls.  The  infante,  Don  Juan, 
enraged  at  the  firm  refusal  of  the  brave  Alfonso,  with 
a  barbarity  better  beseeming  the  chieftain  of  a  horde  of 
savages  than  a  Christian  knight,  immediately  ordered 
the  head  of  his  innocent  prisoner  to  be  struck  off  in 
sight  of  the  besieged.  The  outcries  of  the  beholders  of 
this  savage  deed  being  overheard  by  the  governor,  who 
was  at  dinner  with  his  wife,  Dona  Maria  Coronel,  he 
caught  up  his  arms  and  rushed  out,  demanding  the 
meaning  of  the  noise.  Being  told  what  had  occurred, 
he  calmly  replied,  "  You  alarmed  me,  I  supposed  the 
enemy  had  obtained  entrance"  He  then  returned  to 
his  meal,  carefully  abstaining  from  imparting  the  sad 
news  to  his  wife.  The  truth  of  this  anecdote  is  too 
well  authenticated  to  admit  of  a  doubt,  incredible  as 
it  may  appear.  The  strength  of  the  town  and  the  bra- 
very of  its  commander  precluding  all  hope  of  taking  it, 
the  enemy  raised  the  siege  and  returned  to  Africa. 
The  kingdom  was  in  the  utmost  confusion ;  the  nobles 
perpetually  revolting,  and  fighting  now  on  one  side, 
now  on  another ;  and  the  king,  though  brave,  active 
and  resolute,  assisted  moreover,  by  his  indefatigable 
and  spirited  consort,  was  unable  to  extinguish  the 


238  THE  QUEENS  OF    SPAIN. 

torch  of  civil  war  that  blazed  from  one  extremity  to 
the  other  of  the  distracted  land.  His  death,  which  took 
place  in  1395,  on  the  25th  of  April,  made  matters 
still  worse,  the  heir  to  the  disputed  throne  being  a  boy 
in  his  tenth  year.  Don  Sancho  left  the  regency  to  his 
queen,  and  truly  no  better  pilot  could  have  been  chosen 
to  guide  the  tempest-tossed  bark  through  the  wild 
waves  of  anarchy,  that  threatened  to  overwhelm  it.  The 
memory  of  Sancho  bears  the  stain  of  the  cold-blooded 
murder  of  4000  inhabitants  of  Badajoz,  slain  after  they 
had  surrendered  on  the  promise  that  their  lives  should  be 
spared.  Much  allowance  must  be  made,  however,  for 
the  state  of  irritation  in  which  he  was  kept  by  the 
constant  revolts  of  his  turbulent  subjects.  His  ap- 
parently ungrateful  conduct  to  his  father,  may  be  ex- 
cused, in  part,  by  the  total  incapacity  for  governing 
of  that  monarch,  and  his  irresolute  and  fickle  temper. 


DONA  MARIA  LA  GRANDE, 

(DOWAGER  QUEEN  REGENT.) 

1295. 

REIGN   OF    FERDINAND    FV.       (THE    SUMMONED.) 

THE  difficulty  of  the  queen  regent's  situation 
brought  to  light  the  powers  of  her  strong  intellect,  and 
her  conduct  during  the  agitated  reigns  of  two  minors 
falsifies  the  assertion  of  those  who  maintain  that 


DOSfA    MARIA    LA    GRANDE.  239 

woman  is  inferior  to  man  in  all  that  requires  depth  to 
plan  and  firmness  to  execute.  No  sovereign  was  ever 
called  to  contend  with  greater  evils  than  those  which 
on  every  side  beset  the  widowed  queen,  who  though 
distracted  with  grief  for  the  loss  of  a  fondly-loved  hus- 
band, was  forced  to  exert  all  her  energy  for  the  preser- 
vation of  her  boy's  tottering  throne. 

Her  first  act  was  one  of  generous  policy.     To  endear 
the  new  prince  to  his  people,  the  queen  ordered  a  tax 
called  stfa,  that  had  been  imposed  by  Sancho  for  the 
expenses  of  the  war,  to  be  annulled.    She  also  confirm- 
ed to  each  province  its  fueros.    This  conduct  was  well 
calculated  to  please  the  nation,  and  the  young  heir 
was  accordingly  joyfully  acknowledged.     But  the  am- 
bition of  the  numerous  pretenders  to  the  crown  offered 
little  prospect  of  peace.     News  soon  came,  that  Don 
Juan  was  coming  from  Granada,  at  the  head  of  a  large 
body  of  Moorish  troops,  to  claim  the  throne  of  Castile. 
Don  Diego  Lope  de  Haro,  brother  and  uncle  of  the  two 
last  heads  of  that  house,  now  entered   from  Aragon, 
with  an  armed  force  to  recover  Biscay,  which  had  been 
given  in   charge  to  Don   Enrique,   uncle  of  the  late 
king.     The  house  of  Lara,  which  hitherto  had  adhered 
to  the   queen's   party,  jealous  of  Don  Enrique,  now 
joined    against  her,   with  their   former   enemies,    the 
Haros.      The   infante   Don    Enrique,   whose    restless, 
discontented  spirit  twenty-six  years  imprisonment  in 
Italy  had  not  sufficed  to  subdue,  sought  to  create  ill 
feelings  in  the  people  towards  the  queen,  whose  popu- 
larity he  envied,  and  claimed  £he  guardianship  of  the 


240  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

young  king,  and  the  regency  of  the  kingdom.  The 
Laras  and  Haros,  whose  power  rivalled  that  of  the 
sovereign,  upheld  the  claims  of  the  infante  de  la  Cerda. 
Without  a  friend  to  stand  by  her,  Maria  was  forced, 
fora  season,  to  bow  to  the  storm,  and  offered  to  resign  the 
regency  to  Don  Enrique,  though  the  king's  person  she 
absolutely  refused  to  entrust  to  him.  She  hoped,  by 
thus  apparently  giving  up  to  the  infante  the  high 
and  troublesome  post  he  coveted,  to  bribe  him  to  defend 
his  grand  nephew's  rights,  while  she  herself,  though 
resigning  the  title,  in  reality  retained  the  influence 
and  authority  vested  in  it.  Having  convened  the  Cortes 
in  Valladolid,  in  order  to  have  the  young  king  sworn, 
she  employed  every  argument  to  gain  the  good  will  and 
assistance  of  the  cities.  Reminding  the  deputies  of 
what  had  been  done  by  those  towns  for  Saint  Ferdi- 
nand, the  ancestor  of  the  present  monarch,  and  of  the 
benefits  that  had  accrued  to  the  nation  from  the  loy- 
alty they  had  then  manifested,  she  represented  in 
glowing  colors  those  that  would  ensue,  from  their 
pursuing  in  the  present  case  a  similar  line  of  conduct. 
She  depicted  the  shame  and  disgrace  that  would  fall 
on  them,  should  they  prove  themselves  to  have  degen- 
erated from  their  forefathers,  the  wretchedness  and 
anarchy  that  would  follow  their  defection,  and  ended 
by  promising  to  maintain  inviolate  their  fueros,  and 
grant  them  in  addition  those  that  should  be  deemed 
necessary,  as  far  as  might  lay  in  her  power.  Her  im- 
passioned eloquence  was  efficacious,  the  deputies  un- 
hesitatingly took  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  assured 


DOSfA    MARIA    LA    GRANDE.  241 

the  queen  of  their  readiness  to  support  her  son's  rights 
against  all   pretenders  to  the  crown.     Nor  were  the 
queen's  promises  hastily  made  and  as  soon  forgotten. 
No  sooner  had  the  oaths  of  fealty  been  taken,  than 
each  deputy  in  turn  was  admitted  to  her  presence, 
and  the  grievances  of  which  they  complained  listened 
to  patiently,  and  redressed  speedily,  her  prudence,  dis- 
cernment and  affability  charming  her  hearers.     Her 
zeal  for  the  public  welfare  was  so  untiring,  that  she 
frequently  remained  engaged  in  affairs  of  state  from 
an  early  hour  in  the  morning  until  three  in  the  after- 
noon, without  allowing  herself  time  to  dine.    Surround- 
ed by  powerful  enemies,  lukewarm  friends,  and  faith- 
less   adherents,  the   life  of  this   remarkable   woman 
was  one  of  continual  anxiety    and  harrassing  cares, 
and  presents  examples  of   policy,  prudence,  persever- 
ance, and  decision  that  would  do  credit  to  the  most 
consummate  statesman  of  any  age.     The  queen's  next 
step  was  to  bring  over  to  her  side  the   king  of  Portu- 
gal who,  solicited  by  the  infante,  Don  Juan,  had  pro- 
mised  him  his  aid,  and  was  actually   invading  the 
frontiers  of  Castile  in  his  favor.     Maria  and  her  son 
having  had  an  interview  in  Ciudad  Rodrigo  with  the 
Portuguese  monarch,  it  was  agreed  that  the  infanta 
of  Portugal,  Dona  Constanza,  should  marry  the  young 
sovereign  of  Castile,  her  father   engaging  to   abandon 
the  cause  of  Don  Juan,  and  the  queen  to  give  up  the 
towns  of  Serpa,  Moura  and  Moron.     At  this  time  also 
the  marriage  contract  between   James  II.,  of  Aragon, 
and  the  infanta  Isabel  was  annulled,  the  pope  having 
i  1 


242  THK     QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

refused  to  grant  a  dispensation ;  and  the  princess  re- 
turning to  Castile,  was  subsequently  married  to  John 
III.,  Duke  of  Brittany.  Dona  Maria  now  repaired  to 
Burgos  to  conciliate  Don  Juan  Nunez,  Don  Nuno 
Gronzalo,  and  Don  Diego  de  Haro,  and  though  success- 
ful in  the  end,  was  forced  to  concede  much  more  to 
their  exorbitant  demands  than  she  would  have  done 
in  other  circumstances.  But  Don  Juan  was  not  of  a 
nature  long  to  remain  quiet,  and  leaguing  with  Don 
Alfonso  de  la  Cerda,  they  agreed  to  divide  the  king- 
dom between  them.  To  Don  Alfonso  was  allotted 
Castile  proper,  Toledo,  Cordova,  Murcia,  and  Jaen,  and 
to  Don  Juan,  Leon,  G-alioia,  Estremadura,  Seville,  and 
the  remainder.  The  league  was  joined  by  the  kings 
of  Aragon,  Portugal,  Granada,  the  widowed  queen 
Violante,  mother  of  Don  Juan,  and  grandmother  of 
Don  Alfonso,  and  also  by  Philip,  king  of  France  and 
Navarre.  The  whole  kingdom  was  distracted  by  the 
contending  factions,  the  different  parties  possessing 
themselves  of  the  towns  and  fortresses,  and  the  king 
himself  with  difficulty  obtaining  admittance  into  the 
cities  of  his  own  dominions. 

Don  Juan,  under  pretence  of  offering  to  their  delib- 
eration important  matters,  convened  the  Cortes  in  Va- 
lencia. The  queen,  clearly  perceiving  his  object,  but 
unable  to  prevent  the  meeting  of  the  assembly,  with 
her  usual  prudence  determined  to  turn  the  enemy's 
plan  to  her  own  advantage,  and  immediately  dis- 
patched letters  to  each  town,  giving  them  information 
of  the  infante's  designs,  requesting  such  deputies 


DOSfA    MARIA    LA    GRANDE.  243 

might  be  sent  as  she  could  rely  on,  and  naming  each 
individual.  Not  thinking  this  sufficient,  as  she  was 
advised  that  Dona  Violante,  her  son  Don  Juan,  her 
grandson  Don  Alfonso,  and  Don  Juan  Nunez  intend- 
ed being  present,  and  fearful  lest  their  persuasions,  in 
her  absence,  might  influence  the  deputies,  she  sent  for 
some  of  the  chief  inhabitants  of  the  town,  and  persua 
ded  them  to  admit  within  their  gates  none  but  the 
deputies,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  infantes,  nobles  and 
gentlemen.  Neglecting  no  means  that  could  advance 
her  son's  cause,  the  indefatigable  queen,  from  Valladolid, 
where  she  resided,  daily  sent  posts  to  the  deputies,  re- 
minding them  of  their  promises,  exhorting  them  to 
seek  the  welfare  of  the  nation  and  warning  them 
against  placing  any  confidence  in  the  fallacious 
promises  of  Don  Juan.  Nor  were  the  precautions  super- 
fluous, the  intriguing  infante  having  by  dint  of  solici- 
tations, and  on  condition  of  immediately  withdrawing, 
obtained  admittance  into  the  town.  But  his  efforts  were 
unavailing ;  the  deputies  remained  firm  in  the  queen's 
cause,  and  a  large  sum  of  money  was  voted  her  for  the 
expenses  of  the  war.  The  city  of  Segovia  having  re- 
volted, the  queen,  fearing  lest  the  example  should 
prove  contagious,  determined  to  bring  it  back  to  its 
allegiance.  Having  made  her  way  through  a  body  of 
two  thousand  armed  foes,  she  arrived  at  the  gates  only 
to  be  mortified  by  being  refused  an  entrance,  and  when 
finally  admitted,  it  was  entirely  alone,  the  king  him- 
self being  excluded.  Surrounded  by  a  mutinous  sol- 
diery, whose  equally  insolent  and  rebellious  officers 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

were  little  disposed  to  treat  her  with  the  respect 
due  to  her  rank  or  her  sex,  the  queen  preserving 
her  presence  of  mind,  cairn  and  Tindaunted,  so  won  by 
her  firm  demeanor  and  persuasive  eloquence  on  the 
turbulent  spirits,  that  they  not  only  allowed  the  king 
to  enter,  but  voted  to  the  queen  a  large  sum  of  money, 
to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  war.  Maria  immediately 
taking  advantage  of  this  propitious  moment,  when, 
excited  by  momentary  enthusiasm,  the  sordid  feeling 
of  self-interest  was  exchanged  for  the  nobler  one  of 
the  love  of  king  and  commonwealth,  exacted  and  ob- 
tained that  the  money  should  then  and  there  be 
placed  in  her  hands.  The  Aragonians  and  Navarrese, 
commanded  by  Don  Alfonso  de  la  Cerda,  had  now  en- 
tered the  territories  of  Castile,  and  advanced  as  far  as 
the  city  of  Leon,  committing  great  depredations  on 
their  way,  and  there  the  infante  Don  Juan  was  pro- 
claimed king  of  Leon  as  had  been  previously  agreed 
on,  the  infante  Don  Alfonso  receiving  in  Sahagun  the 
title  of  king  of  Castile.  They  continued  to  gain 
several  places,  but  were  baffled  at  Mayorga,  from 
which  place  they  were  compelled  to  retire,  after  having 
besieged  it  three  months.  Amid  these  contending  par- 
ties, the  queen,  unbiassed  by  any  considerations  of 
self-interest,  was  the  only  one  who  had  at  heart  the  wel- 
fare of  the  nation.  Ever  anxious  to  unite  the  power- 
ful barons  in  one  common  bond,  for  the  support  of  her 
boy's  menaced  rights,  she  vainly  endeavored  to  in- 
duce the  old  infante  Don  Enrique  to  make  head 
against  the  enemy  ;  but,  though  invested  for  that  pur- 


DOSfA    MARIA    LA    GRANDE.  245 

pose  by  the  queen  with  full  powers,  he  contented 
himself  with  maintaining  a  strict  neutrality.  In  real- 
ity, the  old  man,  seditious,  moody  and  discontented  by 
nature,  seemed  to  delight  in  sowing  discord,  and  was 
no  friend  to  the  young  king.  Selfish  and  avaricious, 
he  incessantly  sought  to  advance  his  own  interests, 
careless  of  those  of  any  other.  In  the  meanwhile,  the  king 
of  Aragon  possessed  himself  of  Murcia,  and  the  Icing  of 
Granada  overran  Andalusia,  receiving,  however,  a 
great  check  from  the  stout  resistance  opposed  to  his 
depredations  by  the  brave  Don  Alfonso  de  Gruzman. 
The  king  of  Portugal,  in  contempt  of  the  treaty  of 
Ciudad  Rodrigo,  advanced  to  the  assistance  of  Don 
Juan.  In  order  to  stay  the  torrent,  Don  Enrique,  at 
this  crisis,  advised  the  queen  to  secure  a  powerful  ally 
by  marrying  the  infante  Don  Pedro,  brother  of  the 
king  of  Aragon,  the  latter  offering,  in  case  she  did  so, 
to  withdraw  his  troops  from  her  dominions.  Though 
Don  Enrique  quoted  numberless  examples  of  young 
and  royal  widows  who  had  married  again,  the  queen 
who  was  devoted  to  the  memory  of  her  husband,  in- 
dignantly rejected  the  idea  of  purchasing  peace  on 
such  terms,  and  replied  that  she  trusted  (rod 
would  protect  her  son's  rights,  without  exacting  from 
her  so  unworthy  a  sacrifice. 

The  infante  Don  Enrique,  enraged  at  Maria  for 
scorning  his  perfidious  advice,  repaired  to  the  king  of 
Granada,  leaving  the  troops  that  should  have  defended 
Mayorga  without  a  commander,  but  an  unforeseen  cir- 
cumstance occurred  that  rendered  his  defection  of  little 


246  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

moment,  and  seemed  to  justify  her  reliance  on  heaven- 
ly assistance.  A  plague  broke  out  among  the  troops  of 
Aragon,  that  were  besieging  the  town,  and  raged  with 
such  violence  that  but  one  Procer  was  left  alive,  Don 
Pedro  of  Aragon  being  among  the  victims.  The  Ara- 
gonians  were  forced  to  beg  a  truce  of  the  queen  in 
order  to  convey  home  the  bodies  of  the  lords  and 
knights  that  had  fallen  a  prey  to  the  distemper.  This 
request  was  immediately  granted,  and  Maria  being 
informed  that  the  mortality  had  been  so  great  that 
they  were  destitute  of  the  means  of  furnishing  the 
coffins  suitably  to  the  rank  of  the  deceased,  with  the 
generosity  that  characterized  her,  sent  rich  brocades 
and  stuffs  to  be  used  for  that  purpose.  Though  now 
freed  from  immediate  fears  of  the  Aragonians,  numer- 
ous enemies  remained.  The  king  of  Portugal,  who 
had  been  called  to  their  assistance  by  the  besiegers  of 
Mayorga,  and  was  moreover  anxious  to  secure  his 
share  of  the  spoils,  was  advancing  rapidly.  But  the 
well-concerted  measures  of  the  queen,  who,  by  keeping 
her  troops  well  paid  and  clothed,  encouraged  them  to 
oppose  a  stout  resistance,  rendering  the  reduction  of 
that  place  a  matter  of  time  and  difficulty,  the  enemy 
determined  to  besiege  the  queen  herself  in  Valladolid. 
With  a  view  to  securing  the  faithfulness  of  some  of 
the  chief  towns,  she  had  confided  to  the  loyalty  of  each  the 
person  of  one  of  the  royal  children,  the  young  sovereign 
alone  remaining  with  his  mother.  The  queen's  adherents 
were  unwilling  she  should  remain  exposed  to  the  risk 
of  being  taken  with  the  city,  and  wished  her  to  remove 


DO3A    MARIA     I, A    GRANDE.  247 

to  a  stronger  place,  but  though  she  consented  that  her  son 
should  do  so,  she  refused  to  fly,  resolving  to  remain 
and  defend  the  town  in  person.  The  nobles,  however,  not 
deeming  it  advisable  that  the  king  should  be  separated 
from  his  mother,  both  remained.  Maria  was  desirous, 
by  a  bold  defence  of  this  city,  to  infuse  confidence  into 
others,  and  was  fearful  lest,  should  her  presence  be 
wanting,  her  troops  might  become  discouraged  and 
give  it  up  to  the  foe.  Having  sent  to  Don  Juan  Al- 
fonso de  Haro,  to  request  he  would  come  and  assist  her 
in  the  defence,  that  chief  replied  lie  would  do  so,  if  she 
would  grant"  him  the  lordship  of  Cameros ;  and,  his 
services  being  of  the  utmost  importance,  the  condition 
was  accepted.  The  king  of  Portugal,  Don  Juan,  and 
Don  Alfonso  de  la  Cerda,  styling  themselves  kings  of 
Castile  and  Leon,  and  Don  Juan  Nunez,  having  joined 
their  forces,  now  marched  on  Valladolid,  in  the  firm 
belief  that  both  king  and  queen  were  in  their  power; 
but  the  want  of  unity  between  the  confederates,  each 
being  anxious  to  secure  to  himself  advantages  he  was 
unwilling  his  allies  should  share,  and  the  innate  spirit 
of  affectionate  loyalty  that  lay  dormant  but  not  wholly 
extinguished  in  the  hearts  of  the  Castilian  chiefs,  con- 
spired as  usual  to  defeat  the  purposes  of  Maria's  pow- 
erful foes.  When  within  sight  of  the  town,  the  king 
of  Portugal  despatched  a  messenger  to  the  queen,  de- 
siring she  would  send  a  person  in  whom  she  could 
trust,  with  powers  to  treat  with  him.  Though  reduced 
to  such  straits  as  to  render  any  proposal  of  arrange- 
ment grateful  to  her,  the  Queen's  proud  spirit  disdained 


248  THE    QUKF.NS    OF    SPAIN. 

to  bend  to  her  false  friend,  and  she  returned  an  indig- 
nant refusal  to  send  an  ambassador,  at  the  same  time 
boldly  upbraiding  him,  through  his  own  messenger, 
with  his  infamous  rupture  of  the  treaty  so  recently 
made  in  Ciudad  Rodrigo,  in  thus  ravaging  her  domin- 
ions after  she  had  fulfilled  her  promises,  and  delivered 
into  his  hands  the  towns  he  had  stipulated  for.     "  Tell 
your  master,"  she  added,   "  that  if  he  once  bring  his 
army  within  sight  of  these  walls,  never  shall  the  king, 
my  son,  marry  his  daughter."     At  this  crisis,  a  propo- 
sal was  made  by  a  man  to  the  king  of  Portugal,  offer- 
ing to  put  in  his  possession  some  towns  on  the  frontiers; 
and  Don  Juan  Nunez,  having  declared  he  would  not 
raise  his  arm  against  the  king,  or  besiege  the  city 
while  it  held  within  its  walls  the  sovereign,  the  Portu- 
guese, fearing  the  other  nobles  and  gentlemen  would 
come  to  the  same  conclusion,  and  awed  by  the  deter- 
mined   spirit    of     the    queen,    decided     not    to    come 
to  open  hostilities  at  that  time,  and  accordingly  with- 
drew his  troops.     Thus  did  the  formidable  coalition, 
that  had   threatened   to  prove  so  fatal  to  the  widowed 
queen  and  her  boy,  dissolve  without  striking  a  blow. 
Maria,  emboldened  by  the  indecision  of   her  foes,  re- 
solved now  to  turn  aggressor  herself,  and  drive  from 
the  territories  of  Leon  the  soi-disant  king,  her  brother- 
in-law,    Don    Juan.      Her    military    advisers    deem- 
ing it  expedient  to  besiege  Paredes,  then  the  residence 
of  Maria  de  Haro,  the  wife  of  Don  Juan,  and  of  Dona 
Juana,  his  mother,  the  queen  repaired  thither  in  person 
at  the  head  of  her  troops.    Here  she  was  attacked  by  ill- 


D05JA    MARIA    LA    GRANDE.  249 

ness  occasioned  by  a  tumor  in  her  arm,  from  which  she 
suffered  intense  pain  for  the  space  often  weeks.  Bnt  noth- 
ing could  make  her  neglect  the  charge  she  had  underta- 
ken, and  surmounting  her  sufferings,  she  continued  to 
direct  in  person  the  operations  of  the  siege.  Her  quick 
tact  and  superior  judgment,  detecting  the  weak  points  of 
the  enemy's  defence,  repeatedly  put  to  shame  the  veteran 
warriors  who  accompanied  her,  and  her  perseverance 
and  ardor  were  indispensable  to  an  army,  whose  mili- 
tary commanders  were  at  best  but  lukewarm.  No 
obstacles  could  abate  her  zeal  or  damp  her  courage. 
When  money  was  wanted,  rather  than  burthen  the 
people  and  thus  render  her  cause  odious,  she  mortgaged 
her  own  estates,  and,  when  this  resource  failed,  she 
raised  money  by  the  sale  of  her  plate  and  jewels.  But 
the  efforts  of  this  heroic  woman  were  rendered  ineffec- 
tual, when  she  was  on  the  eve  of  success,  by  the  envi- 
ous disposition  of  Don  Enrique,  who,  as  already  related, 
had  retired  to  Granada.  Informed  that  the  queen 
would,  in  all  probability,  take  the  town,  though  it  was 
defended  by  forces  far  outnumbering  her  own,  and 
fearful  lest  this  exploit,  by  leading  to  comparisons 
rather  disadvantageous  to  one  who  so  recently  had 
allowed  himself  to  be  defeated  by  the  Moors,  might 
eventually  deprive  him  of  the  nominal  honors  of  a 
regency,  the  duties  of  which  were  so  well  performed 
by  a  woman,  the  weak-minded  dotard  determined  to 
counteract  her  measures,  and  assist  her  foes.  Having 
repaired  to  Paredes,  under  the  gtiise  of  a  friend  and 
ally,  he  so  intrigued  with  the  besieging  troops,  that 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

the  queen  had  the  mortification  of  seeing  herself  forced 
by  her  dissaffected  soldiers  to  raise  the  siege,  when 
the  town  was  on  the  point  of  surrendering.  His  petty 
jealousy  soon  induced  him  to  propose  to  the  Cortes 
assembled  in  Cuellar,  that  the  town  of  Tarifa  should 
be  given  up  to  the  Moors.  His  specious  arguments  were, 
however,  foiled,  and  the  loss  of  this  important  place 
prevented,  by  the  spirited  remonstrances  of  the  queen. 
With  a  strength  of  reasoning  and  energy  of  expression 
that  carried  conviction  to  the  hearts  of  the  hearers,  she 
denounced  the  measure  as  one  which  would  brand  the 
actors  with  ineffaceable  shame,  and  she  exposed  the 
folly  of  thus  tamely  giving  up  a  place  that  had  been 
so  dearly  purchased  with  the  blood  of  many  good  and 
loyal  nobles  and  gentlemen  in  the  reign  of  her  husband, 
and  which  was  a  wall  against  the  encroachments  of  the 
Africans.  The  disappointed  Enrique  now  demanded  that 
Grormaz  and  Caltanazor  should  be  given  to  him ;  and 
the  queen,  willing  to  make  some  sacrifice  to  satisfy 
his  rapacity,  acceded  to  the  request,  hoping  that,  on 
the  king's  coming  of  age,  he  would  be  forced  to  give 
back  his  ill-acquired  possessions.  The  king  of  Portu- 
gal now  renewed  his  proposal  of  marriage  between  his 
daughter  Constance  and  the  young  Castilian  sovereign, 
and  also  offered  his  own  son  and  heir  as  a  husband  for 
the  Infanta  Beatrix,  youngest  child  of  Dona  Maria. 
The  latter  pressed  by  numerous  and  powerful  foes,  and 
anxious  to  procure  the  assistance  of  so  strong  an  ally,' 
agreed  that  Constance,  instead  of  bringing  a  dower 
should  receive  one.  her  betrothed  husband,  Don  Fernando. 


MARIA    LA    GRANDE.  251 

giving  to  his  father-in-law,  Olivencia,  Conguela,  Campo 
Moya,  and  San  Felices  delos  Gellegos,  that  sovereign, 
in  return,  obliging  himself  to  bring  an  army  to  assist  the 
queen  against  Don  Juan.  Beatrix,  who  was  at  the  same 
time  betrothed  to  Don  Alfonzo,  the  heir  of  Portugal,  was 
in  her  fourth  year  and  the  little  bridegroom  in  his  ninth. 
The  betrothals  were  celebrated  in  Alcanizas,  on  the  fron- 
tiers of  Zamora,  in  1297.  The  sovereigns  then  parted,  the 
queen  being  accompanied  by  Constance,  and  the  king  of 
Portugal  by  Beatrix.  The  want  of  sincerity  of  the  Por- 
tuguese was  soon  made  manifest  in  his  insolent  demand 
that  Gralicia  should  be  given  to  Don  Juan,  together  with 
the  city  of  Leon  and  the  towns  that  prince  had  taken  from 
the  queen.  The  deputies,  persuaded  by  Maria,  protested 
against  this  dismemberment  of  the  kingdom,  and  her 
faithless  ally  returned  to  Portugal  with  his  army,  hoping 
that  the  queen,  thus  deprived  of  his  assistance,  would  be 
compelled  to  yield  to  Don  Juan.  Matters  seemed  now 
irretrievably  confused.  On  one  hand  was  Don  Juan  aided 
by  Don  Juan  Nunez,  on  the  other  Don  Alfonso  de  la  Cer- 
da  ;  France  threatening  to  enforce  her  claim  on  Navarre 
and  the  rights  of  the  king's  grandson,  Don  Alfonso; 
and  many  of  the  nobles  abandoning  the  king's  party.  Here 
were  indeed  difficulties  and  perils  to  shake  the  courage  of 
the  stoutest  heart,  but  the  indomitable  spirit  of  this 
extraordinary  woman  seemed  to  rise  with  each  new 
obstacle,  and  gather  fresh  strength  with  every  blow 
that  would  have  crushed  another ;  and,  when  her  cause 
seemed  most  desperate,  some  unforeseen  circumstance 
would  occur  to  retrieve  it.  Don  Juan  Alfonso  de  Hare 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

now  did  good  service,  defeating  and  taking  prisoner 
the  great  rebel  Don  Juan  Nunez,  who,  having  returned 
from  France,  whither  he  had  gone  to  enter  into  a 
league  with  king  Philip,  was  overruning  the  bishopric 
of  Calahorra.  The  capture  of  this  great  lord  was  ex- 
tremely advantageous  to  Maria  and  her  son,  who  thus 
recovered  Lerma,  La  Mota,  Amaya,  Palenzuela,  Du- 
enas,  and  other  towns,  exacting  moreover  an  oath,  that 
he  would  not  for  six  years  take  up  arms  against  King 
Ferdinand.  The  defeat  of  his  ally  so  much  disheart- 
ened Don  Juan,  that  he  came  to  terms,  renouncing  the 
title  of  king,  and  acknowledging  that  of  his  nephew 
Ferdinand,*  the  son  of  Maria,  in  June  of  the  year  1300. 
To  Don  Juan  were  given  as  a  compensation,  Paredes, 
Mansilla,  Rioseco,  Castro  Nuno,  and  Cabreras.  The 
king  of  Aragon  meanwhile,  having  possessed  himself  of 
the  town  of  Lora,  the  castle  was  in  imminent  danger 
of  being  also  taken  by  him,  if  not  succored  immediate- 
ly. Advice  of  this  having  been  brought  to  the  queen, 
then  in  Burgos,  on  the  1st  of  January,  1301,  she  pro- 
posed to  Don  Enrique  that  he  should  instantly  go  to  its 
assistance,  as  this  fortress  was  the  key  to  Murcia.  To 
her  urgent  entreaties,  Enrique  replied  with  his  usual 
indecision,  ever  treating  with  indifference  the  most  im- 
portant questions,  when  proposed  by  her. 

This  silly  conduct  so  disgusted  the  queen,  that  she 
declared  that  she  would  go  in  person,  and  that  whoso- 
ever chose  might  follow.  Her  energy  infused  some 

*  Don  Juan  had  another  nephew  of  that  name,  son  of  his  brother 
Ferdinand  de  la  Cerda. 


DOflA    MARIA    LA  GRANDE.  253 

little  shame  into  Enrique,  and  he  prepared  to  accom- 
pany her.  The  inclemency  of  the  weather  did  not 
deter  Maria,  and  she  accordingly  set  out  on  the  4th 
January,  and  by  forced  marches  managed  to  reach 
Alcaraz,  to  be  mortified  with  the  tidings  that  the  castle 
had  been  surrendered  by  treason.  Determined  to  reap 
some  benefit  for  the  trouble  and  expense  she  had  in- 
curred, Maria  entered  Murcia,  where  she  not  only  suc- 
cored several  places  that  were  in  danger  of  being 
taken,  but  would  infallibly  have  captured  the  king  of 
Aragon  and  his  queen,  who,  unconscious  of  her  prox- 
imity, were  in  Navarre,  had  not  the  infantes  Juan  and 
Enrique  refused  to  act  in  concert  with  her  against  this 
monarch,  whose  allies  they  were  in  secret.  Enrique 
was  desirous  of  securing  the  regency  for  his  life-time, 
and  for  this  purpose  secretly  intrigued  with  Aragon. 
The  Pope's  dispensation,  legalising  the  queen's  mar- 
riage with  her  late  husband  and  legitimising  her  chil- 
dren, now  arrived  from  Rome,  having  been  solicited 
unremittingly  by  Maria,  since  the  period  of  Sancho's 
death.  The  jealousy  of  Enrique,  inflamed  by  every 
circumstance  that  favored  the  queen,  sought  to  coun- 
teract the  good  effects  the  Pope's  decree  was  likely  to 
produce,  by  industriously  circulating  a  report  that  the 
letters  supposed  to  have  been  sent  by  the  pontiff  were 
forged.  Not  content  with  this  imposture,  Don  Enrique 
consorted  with  Don  Juan  Nunez,  to  create  ill  feelings 
between  the  young  king  and  his  mother,  and  with- 
draw him  from  her.  Maria  being  obliged  to  go  to 
Victoria,  to  meet  the  governor  of  that  place  and  settle 


254  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

some  disputed  points,  Ferdinand  was  persuaded  to  ex- 
press a  wish  to  spend  the  time  of  the  qceen's  absence, 
hunting  with  Don  Juan  Nunez.  Too  frank  and  truth- 
ful herself  to  suspect  treason  in  one  whose  past  misde- 
meanors had  been  so  recently  pardoned,  the  queen  readily 
consented  to  her  son's  being  absent  with  the  traitor  noble 
four  days.  This  imprudence  soon  occasioned  much 
grief  to  Maria,  the  inexperience  of  the  boy-king  making 
him  an  easy  prey  to  his  subtle  companion,  who  repre- 
senting in  the  most  distorted  light  the  subjection  in 
which  he  was  held,  taught  him  to  view  the  necessary 
restraint  his  age  warranted  as  an  unworthy  yoke,  add- 
ing that  he,  the  monarch,  was  but  a  cipher,  poor  and 
despised,  while  she,  the  brilliant  cynosure  of  all  eyes, 
would  keep  him,  during  her  life-time,  merely  as  the 
instrument  of  her  will.  Ferdinand,  who  seems  to  have 
inherited  neither  his  father's  brilliant  valor,  nor  his 
mother's  firmness  and  prudence,  weak,  unstable,  and 
prone  to  every  new  impression,  was  easily  swayed  by 
the  subtle  reasoning  of  his  new  advisers,  whom  he  ac- 
companied to  Leon,  and  who  even  persuaded  him  that 
whatever  might  be  the  ostensible  purpose  of  the 
queen's  journey  to  Victoria,  the  real  object  of  it  was 
the  negotiation  of  a  marriage  between  his  sister  Isabel 
and  Don  Alfonso  de  la  Cerda,  whom  she  intended  to 
assist  in  his  claim  on  the  crown.  The  simple  youth 
giving  the  inventors  of  this  preposterous  falsehood 
credit  for  all  the  zeal  they  professed  in  his  behalf,  be- 
came a  mere  tool  in  their  hands  against  his  noble  mo- 
ther. While  Dona  Maria  was  in  Victoria,  she  received 


DONA    MARIA    LA    GRANDE.  255 

a  message  from  the  king  of  Aragon,  offering  to  restore 
all  the  places  he  had  taken  in  Murcia,  if  she  would 
allow  him  to  keep  Alicante,  but  this  she  absolutely 
refused.  To  remedy,  as  far  as  lay  in  her  power,  the 
evils  accruing  from  the  king's  confidence  in  his  artful 
counsellors,  Maria  thought  it  advisable  his  marriage 
with  his  betrothed  bride  should  now  be  celebrated,  and 
accordingly  opened  a  negotiation  with  the  king  of  Por- 
tugal to  induce  him  to  give  up  the  towns  that  had 
been  placed  in  his  hands  as  pledges  that  the  union 
should  take  place.  The  queen  was  on  the  point  of  ob- 
taining her  just  demand,  when  her  plan  was  frustrated 
by  the  young  king's  false  friends,  who,  to  ingratiate 
themselves  with  the  king  of  Portugal  and  obtain  his 
co-operation  in  their  schemes,  persuaded  their  dupe  to 
marry  immediately,  and  the  nuptials  took  place  in 
January,  1302.  Ferdinand,  having  convened  the 
Cortes  to  meet  in  Medina  del  Campo  on  the  10th  April, 
the  procuradores  refused  to  assemble,  unless  called  to 
do  so  by  the  queen  mother,  and,  when  summoned  by  her, 
they  sent  to  her,  offering  to  exclude  the  king  if  such  were, 
her  pleasure.  But  that  princess  was  too  wise  and 
good  to  allow  of  her  son's  conduct,  however  ungrateful 
to  her,  being  made  a  plea  for  disrespect  to  himself,  and 
seeking  to  repair  the  mischiefs  he  occasioned,  not  to 
revenge  the  wrongs  inflicted  on  herself,  at  her  son's  re- 
quest attended  the  Cortes.  The  deputies  were  ill 
pleased  that  the  king  should  be  but  a  puppet  in  the 
hands  of  Don  Juan  Nunez  and  the  infante  Don  Juan, 
and  the  latter,  aware  that  the  deputies  would  <lo  no- 


256  THK    QUKENS    OF    SP.UK. 

thing  but  what  should  be  in  strict  accordance  with  her 
wishes,  sought  to  annoy  Maria  in  all  possible  ways.  By 
their  ad  vice,  Ferdinand  demanded  of  the  abbot  of  Santan- 
der,  the  queen's  chancellor,  an  account  of  the  outlays 
and  receipts  during  her  administration  ;  but.  instead 
of  ascertaining,  as  he  had  been  led  to  expect,  that  she 
had  secreted  large  sums,  the  strict  inquiry  he  insti- 
tuted only  served  to  show  the  king  in  debt  to  his  mo- 
ther, for  those  she  had  disbursed  from  her  own  funds, 
in  his  service.  On  another  occasion,  being  informed 
that,  if  he  inquired  for  certain  valuable  rings  that  had 
belonged  to  his  father,  his  mother  would  be  unable  to 
produce  them,  having  bestowed  them  on  some  of  her 
creatures,  the  young  king  hastened  to  her  apartment 
and  requested  she  would  show  him  the  jewels.  Though 
aware  of  the  suspicion  that  prompted  the  demand,  tho 
queen,  dissembling  the  grief  this  insult  caused  her, 
calmly  turning  to  one  of  her  ladies  in  waiting,  Dona 
Maria  Sanchez,  bade  her  bring  them,  together  with 
her  own,  and  when  they  were  brought,  besought  the 
crestfallen  boy  to  take  them  all,  if  such  were  his 
pleasure. 

Ferdinand,  after  such  repeated  proofs  of  his  mother's 
integrity,  seemed  to  repent  of  his  past  unkind  doubts, 
and  breaking  away  from  his  evil  advisers,  spent  some 
time  with  his  best  and  most  sincere  friend.  But  his 
weak  mind  rendered  him  too  prone  to  bad  impressions 
to  allow  of  his  long  continuing  firm  in  any  wise  course, 
and  being  persuaded  that  his  mother  still  cherished  the 
desire  of  marrying  her  daughter  Isabel  to  his  competi- 


DOSfA    MARIA    LA    GRANDE.  257 

tor  Don  Alfonso  de  la  Cerda,  he  sent  to  demand  that 
his  sister  should  come  and  abide  with  his  wife  Con- 
stance. Many  nobles,  and  among  them  Don  Alfonso 
Lopez  de  Haro,  indignant  at  the  childish  and  wavering 
conduct  of  the  king,  proposed  to  Maria  that  she  should 
deprive  him  of  all  power,  and  offered  to  join  with  her 
against  him,  but  she  refused  to  take  a  course  which, 
though  warranted  by  his  mismanagement  of  public 
affairs,  would  ruin  him  irretrievably.  The  lords,  on 
her  refusal,  raised  the  standard  of  Don  Alfonso  de  la 
Cerda.  Don  Enrique,  offended  by  Ferdinand,  also  pro- 
posed to  Maria  that  they  should  join  in  resisting  his 
overstrained  authority,  and  had  she  acceded,  the 
power  of  Don  Enrique  was  such,  and  the  love  the 
nation  bore  the  queen  was  so  great,  that  the  king  would 
have  been  thrust  from  the  throne  he  so  ill  became.  But, 
far  from  giving  the  proposal  a  moment's  thought,  the 
queen  mother  endeavored  to  palliate  and  excuse  his 
folly,  on  the  score  of  his  youth,  and  sought  to  reconcile 
the  hearts  he  was  continually  alienating.  Many  nobles 
and  gentlemen  having  gone  to  the  queen  mother  in 
Valladolid,  Ferdinand  repaired  thither  to  ascertain 
their  intentions,  and  Maria,  seizing  this  favorable 
opportunity  of  reasoning  with  him,  entreated  he  would 
say  what  cause  moved  him  thus  to  persecute,  misjudge 
and  insult  a  mother  who  had  made  his  happiness  and 
welfare  the  study  of  her  life,  and  what  could  induce 
him  to  join  with  those  who  had  for  so  long  a  time 
proved  his  most  bitter  foes.  The  king,  moved  by  her 
just  and  unanswerable  remonstrance,  manifested  some 


258  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

little  gratitude  for  her  solicitude  and  care,  but,  as 
usual,  no  lasting  good  was  produced,  and  he  was  easily 
brought  to  consider  this  momentary  repentance  a 
weakness.  Don  Enrique,  Don  Diego  de  Haro,  and  Don 
Juan  Manuel,  a  grandson  of  San  Fernando,  now  joined 
with  the  infante  Alfonso  de  la  Cerda,  who  called  him- 
self king  of  Castile,  and  began  to  treat  with  the  king 
of  Aragon.  This  coalition,  into  which  vain  efforts 
were  made  to  draw  the  queen  mother,  would  doubtless 
have  proved  fatal  to  Ferdinand,  had  not  the  death  of 
one  of  its  chief  members  greatly  reduced  its  power. 

The  infante  Don  Enrique  ended  his  turbulent  career 
in  August,  1303,  at  the  age  of  73,  and  was  interred  in 
Valladolid.  So  little  was  the  personal  regard  he  had 
inspired,  that  not  one  mourning  friend  followed  his  re- 
mains to  their  last  resting  place,  nor  would  the  body 
of  this,  the  most  powerful  and  wealthy  of  Spain's  no- 
bles have  been  buried  with  common  decency,  had  not 
the  queen,  whose  life  he  had  so  constantly  sought 
to  embitter,  provided  everything  in  accordance  with 
his  rank,  called  on  the  clergy  and  inhabitants  of  Vallado- 
lid to  attend  the  funeral  rites,  and  herself  and  her 
daughter  Isabel  been  chief  mourners.  The  numerous 
towns  of  which,  taking  advantage  of  the  troubles  of 
the  times,  Don  Enrique  had  possessed  himself,  now,  by 
the  prompt  measures  of  Maria,  returned  to  the  crown, 
she  herself  recovering  Ecija. 

The  death  of  Don  Enrique  greatly  contributed  to 
quell  the  rising  storm,  and  restore  peace  and  tranquil- 
lity. The  sovereigns  of  Aragon,  Portugal,  and  Castile, 


DOffA  MARIA  LA  GRANDE.  259 

having  met  in  Agreda  and  Tarragona  in  August  of  the 
following  year  to  settle  the  claims  of  Don  Alfonso  de 
la  Cerda,  the  royal  arbiters  decreed  that  that  prince 
should  renounce  his  pretensions  to  the  throne  of  Castile 
and  the  title  of  king,  and  receive  as  a  compensation, 
a  number  of  towns  and  lordships  in  Castile. 

Though  the  queen  mother  sorely  felt  this  dismem- 
berment of  the  dominions  of  Castile,  still  she  deemed 
it  far  preferable  to  make  this  sacrifice,  costly  as  it 
was,  than  to  continue  the  civil  war.  The  infante  Don 
Alfonso  was  as  little  satisfied,  because,  as  the  places 
assigned  to  him  were  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
their  importance  was  greatly  diminished.  But,  not- 
withstanding the  dissatisfaction  of  the  parties  con- 
cerned, they  were  compelled  to  abide  by  the  decision 
of  the  arbitrators,  and  great  rejoicings  took  place  on 
the  occasion. 

The  king,  now  freed  from  his  most  powerful  ene- 
mies, might  have  enjoyed  the  sweets  of  peace  had  his 
temper  been  different.  But  his  prudent  mother  was 
constantly  employed  in  soothing  the  irascible  spirits  by 
whom  he  was  surrounded,  and  whom  he  was  unsuited 
to  manage.  Ferdinand  was  preparing  to  war  with  the 
Moors,  who  had  taken  advantage  of  the  discord  reign- 
ing among  the  Christians,  when  his  death,  which  occur- 
red in  Jaca,  September,  1312,  in  his  27th  year,  again 
involved  the  Castilian  dominions  in  the  confusion  gene- 
rally attending  the  minority  of  princes.  Ferdinand 
was  surnamed  the  Summoned,  from  the  following  cir- 
cumstance. Two  brothers,  Don  Pedro  and  Don  Juan 


THK    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

Alfonso  Carvajal,  were  accused  of  having  murdered  a 
gentleman  of  the  name  of  Benavides,  one  evening  as 
he  retired  from  the  palace  of  the  king  in  Valencia. 
Though  they  protested  their  innocence,  and  the  proofs 
were  very  slight  against  them,  the  king  condemned 
them  to  be  thrown  from  a  rock  called  La  Peha  de 
Marios.  On  their  way  to  the  place  of  execution,  the 
brothers  solemnly  summoned  the  king  to  answer  within 
thirty  days,  at  the  tribunal  of  God,  for  this  his  unjust 
condemnation.  Though  Ferdinand  subsequently  suf- 
fered a  slight  indisposition,  he  had  apparently  en- 
tirely recovered  from  it  some  days  previous  to  that 
appointed  by  the  criminals,  or  victims  ;  but  having 
thrown  himself  on  hia  couch  on  the  thirtieth  day,  with 
the  intention  of  reposing  for  an  hour,  his  prolonged 
sleep  alarming  his  attendants,  they  ventured  to  endea- 
vor to  rouse  him,  and  found  him  dead  ! 

NOTE. — In  the  following  year,  Philip,  king  of  France,  and  Pope 
Clement,  both  died,  having  been  summoned  in  a  similar  manner  by 
two  knights  templars. 


DOHA  MARIA, 

l  312. 
(DOWAGER  QUEEN  REGENT.) 

REIGN  OF  ALFONSO  XII. 
ON  the  death  of  Ferdinand,  the  royal  standard  was 


DO5?A    MARIA.  261 

raised  by  his  brother,  Don  Pedro,  for  the  young  heir  to 
the  crown,  Alfonso,  then  but  a  year  old.  The  infante, 
Don  Juan,  and  Don  Juan  Nunez,  declared  their  inten- 
tion of  supporting  the  claims  of  Dona  Maria  to  the 
guardianship  of  the  young  prince,  to  which  they  con- 
sidered her  entitled,  but  insisted  that  her  son,  the  in- 
fante Don  Pedro,  should  be  entirely  excluded  from  all 
participation  in  the  administration.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  infante  Don  Pedro  and  Don  Juan  Nunez  de  Lara 
were  equally  imperative  in  their  demands  of  the  same 
office.  The  city  of  Avila,  where  the  young  king 
then  was,  following  the  example  of  loyalty  set  by  its 
inhabitants  during  the  reign  of  the  eleventh  Alfonso, 
decided  that  neither  of  the  contending  parties  should 
have  possession  of  the  person  of  the  infant  sovereign 
until  their  respective  claims  should  be  settled,  and 
placing  him  under  the  protection  of  an  efficient  guard, 
bred  him  with  the  most  affectionate  solicitude.  The 
wretched  kingdom  was  now  again  divided  by  rival  fac- 
tions, the  dowager  queen,  though  with  her  usual 
moderation,  favoring  the  party  of  her  son  Pedro,  and 
Constance,  widow  of  Ferdinand,  that  of  the  infante 
Juan.  The  Cortes  assembled  in  Valencia,  but  the 
procuradores  were  divided  in  opinion,  some  being  in 
favor  of  the  infante  Don  Juan,  and  the  wiser  portion 
in  favor  of  Dona  Maria  and  her  son  Pedro.  The  town 
of  Avila,  after  innumerable  treaties,  negotiations,  <Scc., 
at  length  received  within  its  gates  Dona  Maria  and 
her  son  as  tutors  of  the  baby  sovereign,  but  without 
permitting  him  to  be  taken  beyond  its  precincts.  The 


262  THE    QTKKNS    OK     M'AIN. 

death  of  queen  Constance,  in  1214,  contributed  greatly 
to  settle  all  disputes,  and  Maria  was  then  allowed  to 
take  her  grandson  to  Toro,  and  there  educate  him. 
The  subsequent  deaths  of  the  infantes,  Don  Juan  and 
Don  Pedro,  while  warring  with  the  Moors,  in  1319, 
seemed  to  secure  peace  to  Castile,  the  undisputed  pos- 
session of  the  regency  being  now  in  the  hands  of  Maria. 
But  this  was  rather  the  prelude  to  fresh  commotions. 
Don  Juan  Manuel,  grandson  of  St.  Ferdinand,  aspired  to 
the  guardianship  of  the  young  king,  and  his  preten- 
sions were  supported  by  several  cities.  Don  Felipe,  a 
son  of  Dona  Maria,  undertaking  to  punish  his  arro- 
gance, commenced  ravaging  the  towns  that  had  de- 
clared in  his  favor,  but  his  mother,  ever  careless  of  her 
own  interest,  and  mindful  of  that  of  the  people,  inter- 
posed her  authority,  and  caused  him  to  desist.  Don 
Fernando  de  la  Cerda,  Don  Juan,  son  of  the  late 
Don  Juan,  and  of  his  wife  Dona  Maria,  and  Diaz  de 
Haro,  were  stirring  up  the  disaffected  against  Don 
Juan  Manuel  and  the  queen's  party.  To  appease  the 
threatened  storm,  Maria  convoked  a  Cortes  in  Vallado- 
lid,  but,  worn  out  with  the  cares  to  which  she  had 
been  a  constant  prey  during  the  whole  of  her  well- 
spent  life,  exhausted  nature  gave  way.  The  queen 
beheld  the  approaches  of  death  with  the  calmness  of  a 
Christian,  her  last  earthly  thoughts  being,  as  ever, 
bent  on  securing  peace  to  the  kingdom,  and  the  crown 
to  him  whom  she  considered  its  legitimate  heir. 

Having  summoned  the  regidores  and  chief  gentle- 
men of  the  city,  she  solemnly  entrusted  her  grandson 


DO5?A    MARIA.  263 

to  their  loyalty,  bidding  them  guard  and  keep  him,  un- 
til his  majority,  and  not  to  allow  of  his  being  taken  from 
them  under  any  pretence,  by  any  party,  until  that  pe- 
riod. Having  thus  fulfilled  her  duty  to  the  last,  doing 
all  that  lay  in  her  power  for  the  good  of  the  nation, 
she  considered  her  task  on  earth  accomplished,  and 
prepared  to  receive  a  crown  in  heaven,  resigning  the 
terrestial  one,  that  had  often  been  so  heavy  a  weight  to 
her  aching  brow.  Maria  died  in  July,  1321.  The 
death  of  this  indefatigable  woman,  whose  strong  intel- 
lect, keen  foresight,  and  disinterested  zeal  had  so  often 
preserved  the  kingdom  when  on  the  verge  of  ruin,  was 
lamented  throughout  the  nation.  Maria,  if  we  con- 
sider the  age  in  which  she  lived,  was  truly  a  prodigy. 
In  her  were  blended  the  masculine  virtues  of  the 
stronger  sex  and  the  mild  ones  of  her  own.  She 
united  the  talents  of  the  experienced  politician  and  the 
art  of  the  great  general  and  tactician.  The  firm  sup- 
port of  a  tottering  throne,  yet  the  conscientious  advo- 
cate of  the  rights  of  the  people,  neither  daunted  by  re- 
verses, nor  elated  by  prosperity,  wise,  humane,  and 
pious,  amid  a  host  of  ambitious,  selfish  contenders  for 
power,  she  alone  was  unmoved  by  motives  of  self-inte- 
rest, and  from  the  first  to  the  last  day  of  her  long  and 
useful  career,  steadily  kept  on  her  undeviating  path  of 
rectitude.  In  the  history  of  nations  her  name  shines 
with  a  radiance  dimmed  by  no  one  blot.  Justly  surnam- 
ed  the  Great,  placed  in  a  situation  as  perilous  as  it  was 
exalted,  living  in  times  when  it  was  often  deemed  ex- 
cusable, if  not  praiseworthy,  to  do  evil  for  the  sake  of 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

effecting  good,  this  queen  has  left  a  memory  unstained 
by  crimes,  unsullied  by  foibles. 

Besides  the  children  already  mentioned,  Maria  gave 
birth  in  1288  to  Enrique,  who  died  in  1299 — to  Pedro  who 
born  in  1290,  was  married  in  1311,  to  Maria,  eldest 
daughter  of  James  II.  of  Aragon,  and  died  in  batile  in 
1319 — to  Felipe,  who,  born  1292,  married  Margarita, 
daughter  of  Don  Alfonso  de  la  Cerda,  and  died  1327 — 
to  Beatrix,  born  1293,  and  betrothed  in  1301  to  Alfonso 
of  Portugal,  to  whom  she  was  married  in  1309. 


CONSTANZA  OF  PORTUGAL. 
1302. 

REIGN  OF   FERDINAND  IV.,  THE  SUMMONED. 

CONSTANCE,  the  daughter  of  Denis,  king  of  Portugal, 
and  of  his  queen,  Isabel,  sur named  the  Saint,  was  born 
on  the  3d  of  January,  1290,  betrothed  in  1297  to  Fer- 
dinand, the  young  king  of  Castile,  and  married  to  him 
in  1302.  The  superiority  of  Maria,  the  dowager 
queen  of  Castile,  has  so  completely  cast  the  young 
reigning  queen  into  the  shade,  that  the  latter  has  at- 
tracted little  or  no  attention.  The  only  political  act 
in  which  she  took  part  was  when  she  was  sent  to  en- 
deavor to  obtain  a  loan  of  money  from  her  father,  by 
her  husband  Ferdinand,  who  at  the  time  was  besieging 
Tordehumos.  Constance  survived  the  premature  death 


CONSTANZA    MANUEL.  265 

of  Ferdinand  but  a  short  time,  dying  in  Sahagun, 
November  18th,  1313,  in  the  24th  year  of  her  age. 
It  is  said  that  this  daughter,  wife,  sister  and  mother 
of  sovereigns,  actually  suffered  the  miseries  of  penury 
during  the  latter  part  of  her  short  existence  ;  it  is 
certain  that  she  died  so  poor  that  her  jewels  were 
insufficient  to  defray  her  debts.  Constance  gave  birth 
in  1307  to  Leonor,  and  in  1311  to  Alfonso,  who  suc- 
ceeded to  his  father's  throne.  Leonor  was  betrothed 
when  four  years  of  age  to  Pedro,  crown  prince  of  Ara- 
gon,  son  of  James  II.,  but  that  prince  renouncing 
the  throne  and  taking  orders,  Leonor  subsequently 
married  his  brother  Alfonso  in  1329.  (The  events  of 
this  reign  have  been  given  in  the  Annals  of  Maria  the 
Great.) 


CONSTANZA  MANUEL. 
1325. 

REIGN  OF    ALFONSO  XII. 

ON  the  13th  of  August,  1325,  Alfonso  XII.  having  at- 
tained his  fourteenth  year,  took  the  government  of  the 
kingdom  on  himself,  thus  putting  a  stop  to  the  contin- 
ual wrangling  of  his  tutors,  which  had  hitherto  kept  the 
land  in  a  state  of  confusion.  Dona  Constanza,  daugh- 
ter of  Don  Juan  Manuel,  one  of  the  wealthiest  heir- 
esses of  Castile,  had  been  promised  by  her  father  to 
Don  Juan  el  Tuerto,  son  of  the  infante  of  the  same 
12 


266  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

name  who  had  created  so  much  disturbance  during  the 
preceding  reigns.  The  king,  foreseeing  the  evils  like- 
ly to  arise  from  a  marriage  that  would  cement  an  al- 
liance between  these  two  ambitious  and  disaffected 
barons,  offered  himself  as  a  suitor  to  the  lady,  and  the 
prospect  of  a  throne  proving  too  powerful  a  bait  to  be 
refused,  the  betrothals  were  celebrated  in  November, 
1325.  The  age  of  the  little  maid  rendering  it  neces- 
sary that  some  years  should  elapse  ere  the  marriage 
should  take  place,  circumstances  intervened  in  the  in- 
terval, that  rendered  Alfonso  extremely  averse  to  fulfil- 
ling his  engagement,  though  his  bride  was  honored 
with  the  title  of  queen. 

The  restless,  discontented  temper  of  Don  Juan 
Manuel  could  not  long  endure  restraint,  and  so  irri- 
tated the  king,  that,  heartily  repenting  his  alliance 
with  the  insolent,  rebellious  noble,  he  sought,  and 
finally  obtained,  a  separation  from  his  child-bride,  and 
the  quarrel  with  her  father  having  come  to  an  open  rup- 
ture, Constance  was  regarded  as  a  hostage  rather  than 
a  queen  consort,  being  kept  a  close  prisoner  in  Toro,  Irorn 
October  1327,  to  September,  1328,  when,  Alfonso  having 
married  the  infanta  of  Portugal,  she  was  allowed  to  return 
to  her  father.  Fate,  as  though  determined  to  cheat 
her  with  the  hope  of  a  diadem  that  was  never  to  crown 
her  brow,  once  more  seemed  to  favor  the  designs  of 
the  ambitious  Juan  Manuel,  who,  in  1340,  married  his 
divorced  daughter  to  Pedro,  prince  of  Portugal,  son  of 
Alfonso  XI.  But  the  domestic  life  of  Constance,  like 
that  of  her  successor,  in  the  heart  and  on  the  throne 


COSfSTANZA    MANUEL.  267 

of  the  king  of  Castile,  was  destined  to  be  embittered 
by  the  pangs  of  a  jealousy  but  too  well  founded. 
Shortly  after  her  marriage,  it  became  evident  that  the 
beautiful  Ines  de  Castro,  one  of  the  princess's  ladies, 
had  inspired  Pedro  with  a  vehement  passion ;  a  passion 
that  proved  stronger  than  the  ties  that  bound  him  to 
his  consort,  and  so  enduring  that,  the  subsequent  death 
of  its  hapless  object  was  insufficient  to  extinguish  it. 
The  king,  alarmed  at  the  influence  Ines  was  acquiring 
over  the  mind  of  his  son,  contrived  to  place  a  spiritual 
bar  between  the  lovers,  by  causing  the  lady  to  stand 
god-mother  to  Luis,  the  eldest  child  of  Pedro  and  Con- 
stance. But  a  man  of  the  prince's  passionate  and  de- 
termined nature  was  not  to  be  deterred  by  this  obstacle 
from  following  his  inclination,  and  his  continued  indif- 
ference to  his  consort,  and  devoted  attachment  to  her 
rival,  is  said  to  have  preyed  on  the  spirits  of  the  for- 
mer, and  hastened  her  death,  which  took  place  at 
Santarem,  13th  November,  1345.  The  queen  had 
given  birth  to  three  children,  Luis,  Maria,  and  Ferdi- 
nand. The  two  last  survived  her. 

NOTE. — The  majority  of  readers  are  doubtless  acquainted  with  the 
tragic  story  of  Inesde  Castro,  which  has  furnished  so  rich  a  theme  for 
the  poet  and  the  novelist,  but  those  who  have  not  met  with  it 
elsewhere,  may  be  gratified  to  find  a  sketch  of  it  here,  though  the 
incident  belongs,  more  especially  after  the  death  of  Constance,  to 
the  history  of  Portugal. 

The  death  of  Constance  freeing  the  prince  from  all  restraint,  he 
sought  to  unite  himself  to  his  mistress  by  indissoluble  ties,  and  for 
this  purpose  obtained  a  dispensation  from  Rome,  and  the  marriage 
was  secretly  solemnized  at  Braganza  in  the  presence  of  a  Portu- 


268  THE    QUEENS    OK    SPAIN. 

guese  prelate  and  the  prince's  own  chamberlain,  January  1st,  1355. 
It  has  been  much  disputed  whether  the  marriage  was  performed 
before  or  after  the  birth  of  the  offspring  of  Ines,  who,  however, 
were  by  this  ceremony  legitimised.  Notwithstanding  the  precau- 
tions taken  to  ensure  secrecy,  suspicions  were  entertained,  and  the 
king,  alarmed  lest  the  interests  of  his  grandchild  Ferdinand  should 
suffer  in  consequence,  sent  for  the  prince,  and  urged  him  to  declare 
whether  there  was  any  truth  in  the  report.  Though  Pedro  was 
questioned  repeatedly  on  the  subject,  he  persisted  in  denying  his 
marriage,  but  when  the  king  remonstrated  on  the  sin  of  continuing 
his  criminal  intercourse  with  his  mistress,  he,  as  positively,  refused 
to  give  her  up.  Several  alliances  with  European  princesses  were 
proposed  to  the  prince,  and  his  refusal  to  listen  to  any  overtures  of 
the  kind,  confirmed  the  king's  suspicion  that  he  was  already  mar- 
ried. Enraged  that  his  son  should  have  allied  himself  to  a  subject, 
and  urged  by  some  of  his  counsellors,  who  represented  that,  after 
his  rfeath  the  prince  would  set  aside  his  eldest  child's  claims  in  fa- 
vor of  those  of  the  offspring  of  the  woman  he  so  passionately 
loved,  and  thus  involve  the  kingdom  in  the  horrors  of  civil  war, 
the  king  determined  to  remove  the  cause  of  his  annoyance.  It 
seems  almost  incredible  that  a  man,  a  knight,  and  a  king,  should 
deliberately  meditate  and  cause  to  be  executed  the  barbarous, 
cold-blooded  murder  of  a  woman,  surrounded  by  her  young  chil- 
dren. That  he  did  so,  however,  is  a  fact  too  well  authenticated 
to  allow  of  a  doubt.  The  queen-mother  and  the  Archbishop  of  Bra- 
ga,  having  ascertained  the  king's  murderous  intentions,  apprised  Don 
Pedro  of  the  danger  of  Ines,  but  several  months  elapsing  without 
any  attempt  being  made,  Pedro  fancying  his  father  had  given  up 
the  shocking  idea,  or,  as  is  more  probable,  unwilling  to  believe  he 
had  ever  conceived  it,  became  less  vigilant,  and  Alfonso's  spies  at 
length  brought  word  that  the  prince  had  departed  on  a  hunting  ex- 
pedition and  would  be  absent  some  days.  The  king  instantly  left 
Monte  Mor,  where  he  then  was,  and  hastened  to  the  convene  of 
Santa  Clara  in  Coimbra,  where  Ines  resided.  On  learning  the  king's 
approach,  the  hapless  lady,  foreseeing  her  danger,  attempted  to 


CONST ANZA    MANUEL.  269 

avert  it,  and  issuing  from  the  gates  attended  by  her  three  little 
ones,  embraced  his  knees  and  implored  his  mercy.  Her  extreme 
beauty  and  youth,  her  tears  and  those  of  his  little  grandchildren, 
made  some  impression  on  the  heart  of  the  sovereign,  and  he  with- 
drew irresolute,  but  the  persuasions  of  his  confidential  advisers, 
who  happened  to  be  enemies  of  the  Castro  family  and  jealous  of 
their  influence  with  the  prince,  soon  caused  the  dictates  of  a  mis- 
taken policy  to  prevail  over  those  of  nature,  and  Alfonso  ordered 
the  unprotected  Ines  to  be  stabbed  by  his  minions,  without  the 
mockery  of  a  trial, — for  the  crime  imputed  to  her  of  inspiring  the 
prince's  love  was  too  well  proved, — without  an  hour's  space  to  im- 
plore the  mercy  of  one  whom  even  these  tigers  acknowledged  as  the 
Supreme  Judge.  When  Pedro  on  his  return  from  the  chase  beheld 
the  bloody  corpse  of  the  only  woman  he  had  ever  loved,  his  rage 
knew  no  bounds,  and  the  burning  thirst  for  revenge  mastered  his 
grief.  Assembling  all  his  adherents,  among  whom  were  the  mem- 
bers of  the  powerful  house  of  Castro,  he  ravaged  the  provinces  of 
Entre  Douro  e  Minho,  and  Tras  os  Monies,  where  the  possessions 
of  his  wife's  murderers  lay,  and  besieged  Oporto.  The  king, 
alarmed  at  the  progress  of  his  son's  arms,  sent  the  queen  to  con- 
ciliate him,  but  in  vain  ;  Pedro  received  his  mother  kindly,  but 
swore  that  he  would  never  Jay  down  his  arms  until  the  perpetrators 
of  the  deed  were  given  into  his  power.  The  king  could  not  give 
up  those  who,  though  they  had  advised  the  act,  had  yet  only  exe- 
cuted it  by  his  orders,  and  a  compromise  was  finally  agreed  on. 
The  obnoxious  nobles  were  banished  and  the  prince  admitted  to 
participate  in  the  administration  of  the  government.  The  death  of 
Alfonso  soon  followed  this  reconciliation,  and  is  said  to  have  been 
accelerated  by  the  pangs  of  remorse  for  the  cruelty  of  which  he 
had  been  guilty.  Pedro  was  no  sooner  king  than  he  set  about 
gratifying  his  long-cherished  desire  for  vengeance.  Having  by 
dint  of  negotiation  obtained  the  persons  of  two  out  of  the  three 
assassins  from  his  namesake,  the  king  of  Castile,  at  whose  court 
they  had  taken  refuge  and  who  gave  them  up  in  exchange  for 
some  of  his  own  personal  enemies  and  rebellious  subjects  in  Por- 


270  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

tugal,  Pedro  exercised  all  his  ingenuity  to  devise  tortures  for  these 
wretches.  To  detail  the  torment  they  were  made  to  undergo 
would  be  harrowing  to  the  feelings  of  the  reader ;  suffice  it  to 
say  that  they  seemed  the  invention  of  a  fiend  rather  than  of  a  man. 
Indeed,  the  temper  of  Pedro  became  from  the  death  of  Ines,  stern, 
harsh,  and  inflexible  in  the  extreme,  and  though  he  has  been 
celebrated  for  his  impartial  and  strict  administration  of  justice  dur- 
ing his  reign,  that  justice  was  never  tempered  with  mercy,  and 
he  even  seemed  to  take  a  ferocious  pleasure  in  witnessing  the  in- 
flictions of  the  cruel  punishments  to  which  he  sentenced  malefac- 
tors. Mrs.  Hemans,  in  her  beautiful  ballad  of  the  Coronation  of 
Ines  de  Castro,  has  given  a  description  of  the  regal  honors  the 
heart-stricken  sovereign  bestowed  on  his  murdered  wife,  whom  he 
caused  to  be  disinterred,  clad  in  royal  robes,  and  solemnly  crowned 
in  the  cathedral  of  Coimbra,  after  which  the  corpse  was  conveyed, 
attended  by  a  procession  of  the  most  noble  ladies  and  men  of  the 
highest  rank,  clad  in  mourning,  to  the  monastery  of  Alcobaca,  and 
deposited  in  the  magnificent  tomb  he  had  prepared  for  that  purpose. 


DONA  MARIA  DE  PORTUGAL. 

REIGN  OP    ALFONSO  XII. 
1328. 

THE  king  of  Portugal  had  long  been  anxious  to  pro- 
cure the  marriage  of  his  daughter  Maria  with  the  young 
king  of  Castile,  and  therefore  saw  with  no  little  plea- 
sure the  breach  between  Alfonso  and  his  father-in-law 
daily  widening.  Aware  that  the  marriage  with  Con- 
stance had  not  been  consummated,  he  renewed  his 
proposals,  and  these  were  so  advantageous  to  Castile 


DO$A    MARIA    DE    PORTUGAL.  271 

that  Alfonso,  wearied  with  his  insolent  subject's  con- 
tinued disobedience,  accepted  them.  Among  other 
conditions  it  was  agreed  that  the  crown  prince  of 
Portugal  should  marry  Blanche,  daughter  and  heiress 
of  Don  Pedro,*  lord  of  Cameros,  and  that  her  heredita- 
ry domains  should  be  given  to  her  cousin,  the  king  of 
Castile,  the  king  of  Portugal  obliging  himself  to  in- 
demnify her  for  the  loss  by  settling  on  her  domains  of 
equal  value  in  Portugal.  This  condition  was  extreme- 
ly advantageous  to  the  king  of  Castile,  as  it  not  only 
ensured  a  splendid  alliance  to  his  cousin  Blanche,  but 
added  to  the  domains  of  the  crown  the  vast  estates  of 
his  uncle  Don  Pedro,  which  in  the  hands  of  another 
lord  might  have  proved  too  dangerous  a  resource  for  a 
subject.  The  marriage  between  Alfonso  XII.,  king  of 
Castile,  and  Maria,  daughter  of  Alfonso  IV.,  king  of 
Portugal  and  his  consort.  Beatrix  of  Castile,  was  sol- 
emnized in  September  of  the  year  1328.  Though  a 
dispensation  had  not  been  procured  previous  to  the 
marriage,  it  was  readily  granted  in  the  following  year 
by  the  pope.  These  nuptials  were  followed  by  those 
of  Blanche  with  the  prince  of  Portugal,  and  Leonor, 
infante  of  Castile,  sister  of  Alfonso,  with  the  king  of 
Aragon.  Alfonso  IV.  The  union  of  Maria  and  Alfonso, 
like  the  generality  of  those  formed  from  motives  of 
policy,  where  the  feelings  of  the  parties  chiefly  con- 
cerned have  been  totally  disregarded,  proved  extremely 

*  The  infante  Don  Pedro,  who  had  been  co-regent  with  Dona 
Maria  the  Great,  and  was  killed  in  the  Plain  of  Granada,  fighting 
agrainut  thp  Moors. 


272  THK    QUKKNS    OF    SPAIN. 

unhappy.  The  king's  anxious  hopes  of  an  heir  seemed 
to  be  doomed  to  disappointment,  the  queen  remaining 
childless  during  the  first  three  years  of  her  marriage ; 
and  his  amours  with  Dona  Leonor  de  Guzman,  of  which 
he  made  no  secret,  concurring  to  mortify  and  grieve 
Maria,  a  fountain  was  unsealed  whose  poisoned  waters 
were  to  embitter  the  whole  current  of  her  life.  To  add 
to  the  queen's  vexation,  the  favorite  gave  birth  to  a 
numerous  family,  thus  strengthening  the  ties  that 
united  the  king  to  her.  This  high-born  darne,  whose 
long  term  of  prosperity  and  tragical  end  have  con- 
curred, doubtless,  as  much  as  her  being  the  mother  of 
a  prince  who  subsequently  ascended  the  throne,  to  give 
her  a  conspicuous  place  in  history,  was  the  daughter 
of  Don  Pedro  Nunez  de  Guzman  and  the  widow  of  Don 
Juan  de  Velasco.  By  birth  and  alliance,  Leonor  was 
of  the  richest  and  noblest  families  in  Spain,  and  unan- 
imously allowed  to  be  the  most  beautiful  woman  in  the 
kingdom,  while  even  her  enemies  pronounced  her  in- 
tellect equal  to  her  beauty.  The  king  saw  her  for  the 
first  time  in  Seville  in  1330,  and  the  impression  her 
matchless  charms  made  was  indelible,  her  wit  and 
amiability  strengthening  and  maintaining  the  king's 
passion  for  the  space  of  twenty  years.  During  this 
long  period  Leonor  was,  if  not  dejure,  at  least  de  fac- 
to, the  queen  of  Castile,  the  neglected  Maria,  possess- 
ing but  an  empty  title,  while  all  the  authority  was 
vested  in  the  fascinating  mistress.  But  though  enjoy- 
ing unbounded  power  during  the  king's  life,  Leonor 
used  it  with  prudence  and  moderation,  making  it  the 


DOffA    MARIA    DE    PORTUGAL.  273 

study  of  her  life  to  promote  her  royal  lover's  happiness, 
sharing  in  his  joys  and  triumphs,  and  by  her  gentle 
sympathy  soothing  and  dispelling  the  cares  and  vexa- 
tions that  assailed  him.  All  the  historians  of  those  times 
have  united  to  do  homage  to  the  charms  of  mind  and  per- 
son of  Alfonso's  mistress,  albeit  his  passion  for  her  was 
the  occasion  of  the  domestic  sorrows  of  his  consort,  and 
the  origin  of  the  long  and  desolating  civil  wars  that  dis- 
tracted Castile  during  the  subsequent  reign  of  his  son 
Pedro.  The  birth,  in  1330,  of  the  first  son  of  Leonor, 
was  hailed  with  delight  by  the  king,  and  celebrated 
with  great  rejoicings  by  many  of  the  courtiers,  who, 
foreseeing  the  important  part  the  mother  would  enact, 
sought  to  ingratiate  themselves  with  the  king,  by 
flattering  the  object  of  his  passion.  Alfonso  endowed 
this,  his  first-born  son,  richly,  and  the  fame  of  the  in- 
fluence of  Leonor  spreading  far  and  wide,  the  powerful 
rebel  Don  Juan  Manuel  sent  to  solicit  her  good  offices 
to  effect  a  reconciliation  with  the  king.  The  messen- 
gers of  the  crafty  baron  were  also  empowered  to  ne- 
gotiate a  secret  treaty  with  Leonor,  and  offer  her  the 
assistance  of  their  master  if  she  would  induce  the  king 
to  obtain  a  divorce  from  his  sterile  and  unloved  queen, 
and  marry  her  who  had  already  given  him  a  male  heir. 
Don  Manuel  offered,  in  case  she  would  do  so,  to  return 
to  his  allegiance  and  employ  all  his  power  to  farther 
her  plans.  Leonor  had  too  much  sense  not  to  perceive 
the  hidden  drift  of  the  traitorous  noble,  who,  to  obtain 
his  own  ends,  sought  to  weaken  the  sovereign  by  involv- 
ing him  in  a  war  with  Portugal,  and  to  create,  moreover, 


274  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

great  disturbances  in  the  kingdom.  She  not  only 
resolutely  refused  these  specious  offers,  but  requested 
the  king  might  never  be  spoken  to  on  the  subject. 
Though  she  would  not  acceed  to  his  treacherous  propo- 
sals, Leonor  wisely  endeavored  to  bring  about  a  recon- 
ciliation between  Alfonso  and  his  great  vassal.  To  the 
accomplished  favorite  was  also  due  the  creation  of  the 
Order  of  La  Banda.  To  be  admitted  a  member  of  this 
Order,  it  was  necessary  to  prove  a  term  of  service  of 
not  less  than  ten  years,  and  an  unblemished  and  noble 
birth.  A  crimson  band  worn  over  the  right  shoulder 
was  the  insignia.  The  king  himself  was  the  Grand 
Master,  and  it  was  instituted  with  a  view  of  refining 
and  polishing  the  manners  of  the  nobles,  who,  from  a 
long  continuance  of  civil  wars  had  become  rude  and 
ferocious.  It  was  governed  by  many  excellent  laws 
and  regulations,  and  became  so  celebrated  that  to  be 
one  of  its  members  was  accounted  one  of  the  highest 
honors. 

The  neglected  queen  was  somewhat  consoled  by  the 
birth,  in  1332,  of  Fernando,  her  first-born.  This  event 
was  celebrated  with  great  pomp.  Leonor  about  the 
same  period  also  gave  birth  to  a  son,  who  was  named 
Sancho.  A  few  months  previous  to  the  queen's  confine- 
ment, the  coronation  of  the  sovereigns  of  Castile  had 
taken  place,  and  on  this  occasion  was  revived  the 
ancient  ceremony  of  the  king  knighting  all  those  who 
were  entitled  to  the  honor.  This  ceremony  which  had 
always  been  used  at  the  coronation  of  the  sovereigns 
of  Spain,  had  fallen  into  desuetude  during  the  agitated 


DOSfA    MARTA    DE    PORTUGAL.  275 

reigns  of  his  two  immediate  predecessors,  and  was  now 
restored  by  Alfonso  in  all  its  original  splendor. 

The  king  of  Portugal,  incensed  at  the  insult  offered 
to  his  daughter  in  the  publicity  of  Alfonso's  passion  for 
his  mistress,  now  confederated  with  the  restless  Don 
Juan  Manuel  and  Don  Juan  Nunez  de  Lara  to  obtain 
by  force  of  arms  the  dismissal  of  the  cause  of  offence. 
The  infante  of  Portugal  repudiated  his  wife  Blanche 
of  Castile,  her  infirmities  (she  was  paralytic)  afford- 
ing a  sufficient  plea,  and  married  Constanza,  the 
daughter  of  Don  Juan  Manuel,  and  the  repudiated  bride 
of  the  Castilian  sovereign.  The  energy  with  which 
Alfonso  attacked  his  rebel  lords,  and  especially  Don 
Juan  Nunez,  whom  he  besieged  in  Lerma  and  com- 
pelled to  come  to  terms,  soon  reduced  them  to  a  tem- 
porary submission,  and  allowed  him  time  to  turn  his 
attention  to  the  inroads  of  the  Moors,  who  were  com- 
ing from  Africa  in  great  numbers  The  king  of  Gra- 
nada, anxious  to  free  himself  from  the  tribute  Alfonso 
exacted  from  him,  solicited  the  assistance  of  the  king 
of  Morocco,  and  their  united  forces  would  have  un- 
doubtedly proved  fatal  to  the  sovereign  of  Castile,  had 
he  not  taken  efficacious  measures  to  oppose  them.  The 
court  having  removed  to  Seville,  to  be  nearer  the  seat  of 
war,  Dona  Leonor  there  gave  birth  to  the  twins  who 
were  destined  to  enact  so  important  a  part  in  the  suc- 
ceeding reign — Don  Fadrique,  Grand  Master  of  Santi- 
ago, who  was  to  perish  by  the  dagger  of  his  half-brother, 
Don  Pedro,  and  Don  Enrique,  the  first-born,  who  was 
to  avenge  his  twin-brother's  death  by  the  assassination 


276  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

of  Pedro  and  the  usurpation  of  his  crown.  The  joy 
afforded  to  the  queen  by  the  birth  of  her  own  son  was 
of  short  duration,  the  young  prince  dying  in  1333,  but 
in  November  of  the  following  year  her  hopes  were  re- 
vived by  the  birth  of  another  son,  who  was  named 
Pedro,  and  was  destined  to  succeed  his  father.  Some 
authors  assert  that  Leonor  endeavored,  at  the  time  of 
the  queen's  confinement  to  cause  the  death  of  both 
mother  and  son,  for  which  purpose  she  had  recource 
to  sorcery,  but  this  ridiculous  imputation  is  as  stoutly 
denied  by  others.  The  character  of  Leonor  was 
tainted  with  neither  cruelty  nor  ambition,  though  she 
is  by  some  accused  of  having  caused  the  downfall  of 
Martin  de  Oviedo,  Grand  Master  of  Alcantara,  who, 
irritated  against  the  favorite,  rebelled,  was  taken,  and 
expiated  his  crime  by  a  cruel  death. 

It  being  indispensible  that  the  Christian  powers 
of  the  Peninsula  should  unite  to  repel  the  numerous 
forces  of  the  allied  Moors,  Maria  setting  aside  all  re- 
sentment for  private  wrongs,  in  her  anxiety  for  the 
public  weal,  repaired  to  Ebora,  a  town  of  Portugal,  to 
solicit  in  person  the  assistance  of  her  father  against  the 
common  foe  of  Christianity.  The  Portuguese  monarch, 
won  by  his  daughter's  persuasions,  joined  Alfonso  at 
the  head  of  a  considerable  force,  and  the  united  sove- 
reigns having  encountered  the  Moors  near  Tarifa,  which 
the  latter  were  besieging,  won  the  famous  battle  of  El 
Salado,  so  called  from  the  little  river  of  that  name,  on 
the  banks  of  which  it  was  fought  on  the  28th  October, 
1340.  The  Moors  were  in  immense  numbers,  and 


MARIA    DE    PORTUGAL.  277 

commanded  by  the  king  of  Granada  and  Albohacen, 
prince  of  Morocco.  This  was  the  greatest  battle  that 
had  taken  place  since  that  of  Las  Navas  de  Tolosa, 
when  Alfonso  VIII.  and  his  allies,  the  kings  of  Navarre 
and  Leon,  humbled  the  crescent  to  the  dust.  That 
the  Christians  at  the  battle  of  El  Salado  performed 
miracles  of  valor  can  scarcely  be  doubted,  when  we 
find  they  triumphed  over  forces  four  times  as  numerous. 
The  more  moderate  Spanish  historians  reckon  their 
own  number  at  60,000,  and  that  of  the  Moors  at 
140,000.  This  certainly  appears  incredible,  and  what 
is  still  more  so,  is  the  assertion  that  12,000  Moors  fell 
on  the  field  of  battle,  while  the  loss  of  the  Christians 
amounted  to  some  twenty  men.*  Though  we  can 
give  no  credit  to  so  absurd  an  account,  we  have  no 
means  of  ascertaining  the  exact  numbers  on  each  side. 
That  the  loss  of  the  Saracens  was  immense,  we  have 
the  authority  of  their  own  chroniclers  to  vouch,  and 
there  was  not  a  family  in  Granada  but  had  to  mourn  the 
loss  of  a  member.  Alfonso  proved  himself  the  worthy  de- 
scendant of  his  heroic  forefathers.  Though  at  one  time 
surrounded  by  a  multitude  of  foes,  his  firmness  was 
unshaken,  and  he  defended  himself  vigorously  at  the 
head  of  his  small  band  until  disengaged  by  his  troops. 
The  king  of  Portugal  having  thus  efficiently  assisted 
his  son-in-law,  returned  to  his  own  dominions,  refusing 
to  accept  any  share  in  the  spoils  beyond  a  few  rich 
swords  and  caparisons.  The  booty,  in  gold  alone,  was 

*  Some  of  the  Spanish  writers  assert  that  200,000  Moors  fell  in 
that  battle! ! ! — Cronica  de  Alfonso  Onceno. 


278  THE     QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

so  great  that  the  coin  of  that  metal  decreased  one  sixth  in 
value.  In  this  battle  Alfonso  certainly  won  more  renown 
than  his  predecessor  and  namesake  at  that  of  Las  Navas 
de  Tolosa.  Alfonso  VIII.  had  had  time  to  prepare 
himself,  he  had  ample  means,  and  three  kings  with 
their  forces  to  assist  him,  besides  an  immense  number 
of  foreigners,  who  came  from  all  parts  of  Europe  to 
win  fame  and  the  blessings  of  the  church,  this  having 
been  a  species  of  crusade  enjoined  by  the  Pontiff  him- 
self. Alfonso  XII.  was  greatly  weakened  by  the 
defection  of  several  of  his  high  vassals,  had  had  little 
or  no  time  to  prepare  to  resist  so  numerous  a  force, 
and  was  assisted  only  by  his  father-in-law.  The  Cas- 
tilian  sovereign  sent  a  portion  of  the  spoils  as  presents  to 
the  Pope,  among  which  were  twenty-four  banners  won 
from  the  foe  and  now  borne  by  as  many  captives,  one  hun- 
dred magnificent  horses  splendidly  caparisoned,  with 
rich  swords  and  shields  hanging  at  the  saddle  bows,  and 
led  by  as  many  captives.  The  king  also  sent  his  own 
standard  to  the  Pope,  and  the  steed  he  rode  during  the 
battle,  with  trappings  embroidered  with  the  arms  of 
Leon  and  Castile,  and  many  valuable  jewels.  The 
king's  gift  was  received  with  the  utmost  solemnity  by 
the  Pope,  who  ordered  public  thanks  to  be  returned  to 
(rod  for  the  signal  victory  he  had  vouchsafed  to  the  Chris- 
tian arms.  This  famous  battle  was  the  precursor  of 
many  others  between  the  Moors  and  the  Castilians,  Al- 
fonso ever  distinguishing  himself  by  his  personal  bravery 
and  his  talents  as  a  commander.  Four  years  afterwards, 
the  kingdom  of  Algeciraswas  also  conquered,  having  pre- 


DOSA    MARIA    DE    PORTUGAL.  279 

viously  sustained  a  long  and  tedious  siege,  by  Alfonso, 
who  had  in  the  meanwhile  won  several  naval  battles. 
During  the  five  succeeding  years,  the  kingdom  enjoyed 
peace  and  tranquillity,  though  it  is  more  than  probable 
the  inmates  of  the  royal  palace  were  far  from  partici- 
pating in  these  blessings.  The  neglected  queen,  how- 
ever, whatever  might  be  her  feelings,  gave  no  outward 
signs  of  resentment,  but  though  she  appeared  thus 
patiently  to  endure  being  reduced  to  a  secondary  po- 
sition, she  secretly  nourished  a  hope  of  vengeance,  and 
silently  awaited  the  day  when  she  could  retaliate  her 
wrongs  on  the  head  of  her  hated  rival.  Nor  did  Maria 
wait  in  vain.  The  death  of  Alfonso,  who  fell  a  victim 
to  a  pestilence  in  March,  1350.  while  engaged  in  the 
siege  of  Gibraltar,*  entirely  changed  the  face  of  public 
affairs  in  Castile.  Pedro,  the  son  of  Maria,  a  youth 
not  sixteen,  was  proclaimed  king,  and  urged  by  his 
mother,  gave  his  consent  to  the  first  of  those  sanguin- 
ary deeds  that  have  caused  succeeding  generations  to 
view  his  character  through  a  veil  of  blood.  The  un- 
happy Leonor  was  arrested,  thrown  into  prison,  and 
finally  strangled  by  an  attendant  of  the  queen.  Thus 
she  who  had  reigned  in  Castile,  if  not  with  the  title, 
at  least  with  the  sway  and  attributes  of  a  queen, 
passionately  beloved  during  twenty  years  by  one  of 
Spain's  greatest  monarchs,  while  still  in  the  bloom 

*  Gibraltar  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Moors  in  1331,  through 
the  want  of  forethought  of  the  Alcalde  Vasco  Perez,  who,  during 
the  previous  peace  sold  the  surplus  of  provisions  the  place  con- 
tained to  the  Moors,  and  was  afterwards  forced  to  surrender  by 
famine. 


280  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

of  her  extraordinary  beauty,  cruelly  expiated  her  long 
usurpation  of  that  place  in  the  king's  heart  which  the 
laws  had  assigned  to  another.*  The  records  of  those 
times,  while  they  say  little  of  the  mental  and  personal 
attractions  of  Maria,  endow  her  rival  with  every  charm. 
The  attachment  of  Leonor  to  the  king  during  so  long 
a  space  of  time,  was  evinced  by  the  untiring  devotion 
with  which  she  constantly  sought  to  promote  his 
welfare  and  anticipate  his  every  wish.  Though  she 
might  easily  have  induced  her  royal  lover  to  repudiate 
a  queen  whose  feelings  and  tastes  were  so  uncongenial, 
and  give  to  her  he  loved  that  place  on  his  throne  she 
had  already  secured  in  his  affections,  and  though  not 
only  did  the  manners  of  those  times  allow  of  this  being 
easily  effected,  but  she  was  repeatedly  urged  to  this 
step  by  powerful  adherents,  her  good  sense  never  per- 
mitted her  to  yield  to  the  suggestions  of  ambition. 
During  the  life  of  Alfonso,  the  brilliancy  of  Leonor 
threw  the  queen  into  the  shade,  the  few  adherents  of  the 
latter  being  weak  and  powerless,  while  the  court  of 
the  favorite  was  thronged  by  the  high-born  and  wealthy 
lords  of  Castile.  Maria,  though  she  had  satisfied  her 
thirst  for  revenge,  and  freed  herself  from  the  detested 
rival  whose  dying  pangs  it  is  said  she  witnessed  with 
exultation,  was  far  from  enjoying  as  a  widow  the  happi- 
ness she  had  failed  in  attaining  as  a  wife.  She  had 
instilled  from  early  childhood  in  the  mind  of  her  son 
the  cruel  doctrine  of  retaliation,  she  had  induced  him  to 

•Leonora  de  Guzman  was  one   year  older  than  Alfonso,  and 
eighteen  years  of  age  when  the  intimacy  commenced. 


DOS  A    MARIA    DE    PORTUGAL.  281 

the  first  revengeful  act,  but  the  first  step  once  taken  in 
the  career  of  blood,  no  hand  could  check  his  headlong 
course.  Maria,  who  had  won  no  love  from  her  husband, 
was  equally  unsuccessful  with  her  son,  whom  she 
could  not  even  inspire  with  respect  towards  the  parent 
who  had  cultivated  instead  of  stifling  the  evil  passions 
he  had  derived  from  her.  Having  persuaded  her  son 
to  marry  the  princess  Blanche  of  France,  the  queen  re- 
paired to  Valladolid  in  1353  to  receive  the  bride,  but 
though  the  nuptials  were  celebrated,  she  had  the  mor- 
tification of  seeing  Don  Pedro  neglect  his  young  queen 
for  Maria  Padilla.  Finding  her  persuasions  ineffectual, 
the  queen  dowager  thought  to  coerce  her  son  into 
adopting  another  line  of  conduct,  and  for  that  purpose 
joined  the  league  the  nobles  had  formed  against  him, 
and  momentarily  obtained  her  object,  Pedro  being  forced 
by  them  to  dismiss  all  the  relatives  and  creatures  of  his 
mistress  from  his  service,  and  replace  them  with  gen- 
tlemen named  by  the  leaguers.  But  these  extorted 
concessions  were  annulled  the  instant  Pedro  was  able 
to  free  himself  from  the  restraint  in  which  he  was 
held. 

In  1355  the  king  was  in  a  condition  to  revenge  the 
insult  offered,  and  in  Toro.  before  the  eyes  of  the  hor- 
rcr-struck  queen,  whose  garments  were  covered  with 
their  blood  and  brains,  four  of  her  partisans  were  felled 
by  the  maces  and  daggers  of  the  king's  ballesteros,* 
by  his  commands.  The  miserable  witness  of  this 

*  Ballesteros,  a  body  of  men-at-arms,  whose  principal  weapon 
was  a  short  club,  or  mace. 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

bloody  scene  fainted  on  the  bodies.  She  could  not 
with  justice  reproach  her  son  for  thus  revenging  his 
wrongs,  since  she  herself  had  taught  him  the  lesson  he 
now  put  in  practice  on  his  own  account,  and  she 
but  reaped  the  fruits  of  the  seed  she  had  sown.  Dis- 
regarded, despised,  even  suspected,  and  not  without 
some  foundation,  of  having  plotted  to  dethrone  her  son, 
almost  trembling  for  her  own  life,  while  in  the  power 
of  one  who  in  his  resentment  was  inflexible  and  piti- 
less, Maria  solicited  the  king's  permission  to  retire  to 
Portugal  in  1356.  She  vainly  sought  to  avoid  the  fate 
that  pursued  her,  and,  doomed  throughout  the  whole 
course  of  her  existence  to  suffer  through  her  nearest 
and  dearest,  she  was  put  to  death  by  the  orders  of  her 
own  father,  in  Portugal,  in  1357.  The  reason  assigned 
for  this  unnatural  deed  was  the  scandal  occasioned  by 
the  disorderly  conduct  of  the  queen,  who,  forgetful  of 
her  elevated  station,  gave  loose  to  the  most  licentious 
passions.  One  of  the  adherents  who  was  slain  in  her 
presence  in  Toro,  Don  Martin  Tello,  had  been  suspected 
of  being  more  intimate  with  his  sovereign  lady  than  was 
becoming,  and  the  knowledge  of  this  probably  contribu- 
ted to  lessen  Pedro's  respect  and  affection  for  his  mother. 

NOTE. — A  singular  coincidence  is  noticed  by  Garibay.  Three 
of  the  sovereigns  of  Leon  and  Castile  of  the  same  name  had 
mistresses  of  the  noble  house  of  Guzman,  and  the  descendants  of 
each  of  these  ladies,  albeit  illegitimate,  ascended  a  throne.  Dona 
Ximena  Nunez  de  Guzman  was  mother  by  Alfonso  VI.  of  the  in- 
fanta Teresa,  who  married  Henry,  Count  of  Portugal,  and  became 
the  mother  of  Don  Alfonso  Henriquez,  first  king  of  Portugal  • 
Dona  Maria  Guillen  de  Guzman,  the  mistress  of  Alfonso  the  As- 


BLANCHK    OF    BOURBON.  283 

trologer,  gave  birth  to  Beatrix,  who  married  Alfonso  III.,  fifth  king 
of  Portugal ;  and  Leonora  de  Guxman  gave  birth  to  the  Count  of 
Trastamara,  afterwards  Henry  II.  king  of  Castile. 


BLANCHE  OF  BOURBON. 
1353. 

REIGN  OF  PEDRO  I.,  SURNAMED  THE  CRUEL  AND  THE  STRICT.* 

THIS  ill-fated  lady  was  the  daughter  of  Pedro  I., 
Duke  of  Bourbon,  and  of  his  duchess,  Isabella  of  Valois. 
Already  nearly  allied  by  birth  to  the  royal  fam- 
ily of  France,  her  father  being  the  cousin  of  king 
John,  these  ties  had  been  strengthened  in  1350  by  the 
marriage  of  her  sister  Jane  with  Charles,  Dauphin  of 
France  and  Duke  of  Normandy.  Fate  seemed  to  have 
surrounded  Blanche  with  powerful  connections  but  to 
prove  their  uselessness  to  shield  her  from  the  sorrows 
and  tragical  death  to  which  she  was  destined.  By 
the  advice  of  his  mother  and  council,  Pedro,  the  young 
sovereign  of  Castile,  in  1351,  sent  ambassadors  with 
proposals  for  the  hand  of  the  French  princess,  which 
was  granted.  The  marriage  contract  was  signed  on 
the  7th  of  July,  1352,  the  dower  consisting  of  300,000 
gold  florins,  and  the  princess  arrived  on  Monday,  25th 

*  El  Jiisticiero  ;  literally  this  word  implies  one  who  executes 
rigid  and  summary  justice, — an  inflexible  but  just  executioner. 
There  is  no  English  word  that  conveys  exactly  the  meaning  of  the 
Spanish  term. 


284  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

February,  1353,  in  Valladolicl,  where  the  queen  mother 
and  other  members  of  the  royal  family  were  waiting 
to  receive  her.  The  Castilian  envoys  had  met  the 
princess  in  Narbonne,  and  attended  her  through  the  re- 
mainder of  her  journey. 

While  the  negotiations  for  her  marriage  were  going 
through  the  tedious  forms  of  diplomacy,  an  event  had 
occurred  which  influenced  the  whole  course  of  Blanche's 
married  life,  and  ere  she  reached  the  dominions  of  her 
destined  husband,  her  place  in  his  heart  had  been  taken 
by  another.  The  sons  of  Leonor  having  fled  to  Portu- 
gal after  their  mother's  death,  Pedro,  by  the  persua- 
sions of  his  grandfather,  granted  a  safe  conduct  to  En- 
rique and  his  brothers,  that  they  might  return  and 
reside  on  their  own  estates  in  Asturias  ;  but  his  leniency 
in  the  present  case  was  productive  of  no  good  results, 
his  half  brothers  commencing  the  series  of  rebellions 
and  vexations  that,  irritating  a  naturally  impetuous 
temper,  caused  Pedro  to  retaliate  by  those  summary 
executions  which  have  procured  him  the  surnames  of 
the  Cruel  and  the  Avenger,  according  to  the  light  in 
which  they  have  been  viewed.  Don  Alfonso  Fernandez 
Coronel,  a  powerful  noble,  rebelling,  fortified  himself 
in  his  town  of  Aguilar,  in  Andalusia,  Don  Tello,  a 
son  of  Leonora,*  did  the  same  in  his  lordship  of  Aranda 

*  Doiia  Leonor  de  Guzman  gave  birth  to  nine  sons  and  one 
daughter.  Peilro,  who  died  when  eight  years  of  age,  Sancho,  who 
hecame  an  idiot,  Henry,  Cjount  of  Trastamara,  and  Frederic,  the 
grand  master  of  Santiago,  Fernando,  Tello,  Juan,  Pedro,  another 
Sancho.  and  Juana,  who  married  Don  Fernando  de  Castro.  All 


BLANCHE    OF    BOURBON.  285 

de  Duero,  ravaging  the  king's  domains,  and  the  Count 
Enrique  followed  his  example  in  his  own  town  of 
Gijon.  Having  left  a  force  before  Aguilar,  the  king 
proceeded  to  Gijon,  which  he  besieged,  and  took. 
While  thus  engaged,  Pedro  lodged  at  the  house  of  Doiia 
Isabel  de  Meneses,  the  wife  of  his  favorite  minister, 
Don  Alfonso  de  Alburquerque,  and  there  met  with 
Maria  Padilla,  a  very  pretty  damsel  of  good  birth, 
under  the  care  of  his  hostess.  An  uncle  of  Maria,  Don 
Juan  de  Hinestrosa,  in  the  hope  that  her  beauty  would 
assist  materially  in  raising  him  to  power,  facilitated 
the  intrigue,  which  was,  moreover,  encouraged  by  Don 
Alfonso,  with  a  view  of  keeping  the  king  amused,  and 
thus  rendering  his  own  services  indispensable. 

Pedro,  who  carried  everything  to  the  extreme,  gave 
himself  up  to  the  fascination  of  the  charming  Padilla, 
and  appeared  to  have  entirely  forgotten  the  bride  then 
on  her  way,  and  to  whom  he  was  expected  to  sacrifice 
what  now  constituted  his  happiness.  This  fair  one, 
who  retained  the  affection  of  her  sovereign  to  her  last 
hour,  and  whose  death  caused  him  such  excessive 
grief,  was  a  pretty  brunette,  rather  below  the  middle 
height,  with  a  clear  olive  complexion,  fine  dark  eyes, 
a  graceful  figure,  and  possessed,  in  addition  to  these 
personal  charms,  of  a  good  heart  and  sweet  disposition. 

* 

The  arrival  of  Blanche  was  a  source  of  great  annoy- 
ance to  Pedro,  who  was,  with  the  utmost  difficulty, 
induced  to  repair  to  Valladolid  to  see  the  affianced, 

these  natural  children  being  richly  endowed,  the  patrimony  of  the 
young  king  was  consequently  diminished. 


286  THE    QUKRNS    OF    SPAIN. 

and  already  hated,  bride,  that  policy  was  about  to 
force  on  him.  The  nuptials  were  celebrated  with  the 
utmost  splendor,  in  that  town,  on  Monday,  3d  of  June, 
1353,  the  king's  half  brothers,  Don  Enrique  and  Don 
Tello,*  his  cousins,  the  exiled  infantes  of  Aragon, 
and  the  high  vassals  of  the  kingdom  vying  with 
each  other  in  magnificent  display.  The  tournaments 
that  took  place  on  the  occasion  were  honored  by  the 
presence  of  the  sovereign  and  princes,  mounted  on 
white  horses,  splendidly  caparisoned,  Don  Enrique 
and  Don  Tello  leading  the  bride's  palfrey,  Don 
Fernando  prince  of  Aragon  that  of  his  mother  the 
dowager  queen  of  Aragon,  and  his  brother  Don  Juan 
that  of  the  dowager  queen  of  Castile.  But  though 
the  mask  was  decorated  with  regal  pomp,  it 
could  not  long  be  worn  by  one  of  Don  Pedro's 
impetuous  temper,  and  his  dislike  of  his  consort, 
*  Though  Don  Frederic  had  been  reconciled  with  the  king, 
when  his  brothers  were  received  into  Don  Pedro's  favor,  his  name 
is  not  mentioned  in  any  of  the  occurrences  that  took  place  from 
that  time  to  the  4th  March,  1353.  nor  is  it  known  where  he  was 
from  March,  1351,  to  February,  1353.  He  may  have  been  re- 
siding on  his  own  domains,  or  the  territories  that  belonged  to  his 
jurisdiction  as  grand  master  of  the  order  of  the  knights  of  Santiago, 
but  it  is  strange  he  did  not  attend  the  king's  nuptials.  From  his 
absence  on  this  occasion,  the  author  of  the  notes  to  Ayala's  chroni- 
cle of  Don  Pedro  opines  that  the  grand  master  did  not  accompany 
Blanche  from  France  ; — a  sense  of  guilt,  and  prudential  considera- 
tions may,  however,  have  dictated  his  absence  on  that  occasion,  and  it 
is  probable  that  on  his  arrival  in  Spain  he  retired  to  his  estates.  If, 
as  some  assert,  he  was  in  love  with  Blanche,  it  was  natural  he 
should  wish  to  avoid  seeing  her  wedded  to  his  brother. 


BLANCHE    OF    BOURBON.  287 

far  from  diminishing  on  a  more  intimate  acquaintance, 
soon  became  insurmountable  abhorrence.  What- 
ever may  have  been  his  faults,  hypocrisy  was  not 
among  them,  and  scorning  to  feign  an  affection  he 
could  not  feel,  he  treated  the  queen  with  indifference 
and  neglect.  This  state  of  things  could  not  last  long, 
and  on  the  third  day  after  his  marriage,  while  the 
king  was  dining  alone,  his  mother  and  aunt  entering 
the  apartment  bathed  in  tears,  expostulated  with  him 
on  the  coldness  he  manifested  towards  Blanche.  These 
remonstrances  produced  the  effect  that  usually  attends 
reasoning  in  such  cases.  Affection  was  never  yet 
inspired  by  persuasive  arguments,  and  Pedro,  of  all 
men,  was  the  least  likely  to  be  driven  to  love  where 
he  hated.  Returning  an  evasive  answer  to  their 
entreaties,  he  avoided  all  further  discussions  on  the 
subject  by  mounting  his  horse,  two  hours  after,  and 
rejoining  Maria  Padilla,  at  Montalvan. 

Many  are  the  reasons  assigned  for  the  strange 
hatred  Pedro  had  conceived  in  so  short  a  time  for  a 
bride  of  eighteen,  who,  though  not  praised  for  beauty 
is  not  said  to  have  been  homely,  and  is  described  as  a 
good-looking  blonde.  Rumor  asserted  that  Don  Fred- 
eric, the  king's  half  brother  having  been  one  of  the 
envoys  sent  to  conduct  the  French  princess  to  Spain, 
had  become  enamored  of  his  fair  charge  who  had 
reciprocated  his  passion,  and  that  this  intrigue,  of 
which  a  living  proof  remained,  coming  to  the  know- 
ledge of  the  king,  occasioned  the  inveterate  animosity 
he  ever  displayed  to  both  Blanche  and  Frederic,  and 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

which  in  the  end  proved  so  fatal  to  both.  For  this 
story  no  good  authority  can  be  found,  and  it  is  even 
asserted  that  Frederic  did  not  form  part  of  the  retinue 
named  to  accompany  Blanche.*  It  is  likely,  however, 
that  Henry  II.  took  especial  pains  on  his  accession  to 
destroy  every  document  that  would  criminate  his 
brother,  the  grand  master,  and  exculpate  his  murdered 
brother,  king  Pedro.  Among  other  reports,  a  story 
was  circulated  which  in  those  times  was  probably 
thought  deserving  of  credit,  however  absurd  it  may 
appear  in  ours. 

Among  the  marriage  gifts  presented  by  Blanche  to 
the  king,  it  was  said  there  was  a  belt  studded  with 
gems,  which  having  fallen  in  the  hands  of  Maria  Pa- 
dilla,  was  by  her  given  to  a  Jewish  sorcerer,  who 
worked  such  wonders  on  it  by  his  magic  art  that  when 
the  king  attempted  to  put  it  on  it  appeared  to  his  dis- 
torted vision  a  serpent,  whereupon  filled  with  horror,  he 
threw  it  from  him,  demanding  of  his  attendants  the 
meaning  of  this  portent,  and  whence  came  the  belt. 

*  Those  who  favor  the  idea  that  an  intrigue  had  existed  between 
Blanche  and  Frederic,  not  only  assert  that  the  grand  master  was 
one  of  the  envoys  sent  to  bring  her  to  Spain,  but  that  they  were  a 
whole  year  on  the  way  thither—"  a  proof,"  they  maliciously  add, 
"  that  the  roads  were  in  a  shocking  bad  condition,  or  that  they 
took  the  wrong  one.  In  the  history  of  Languedoc,  by  the  monks 
of  St.  Maur,  it  is  expressly  stated  that  the  princess  crossed  that 
province  by  the  way  of  Rousellon  at  the  end  of  the  year  1352, 
that  she  was  in  Bagnolles  17th  Dec.,  that  she  left  Mines  on  the 
26th,  and  remained  in  Narbonne  ten  days  waiting  the  arrival  of 
the  Castillan  envoys  who  were  to  accompany  her  to  Spain — Notes 
to  thx  Cronica  de  Alfonso  Oneenopr.  Ayala. 


BLANCHE    OF    BOURBON.  289 

They  being  creatures  of  Maria,  reminded  the  king  that 
this  was  the  queen's  gift,  and  from  that  day  forth  indif- 
ference became  hatred.  But  in  one  of  Don  Pedro's  vio- 
lent passions,  and  who  from  early  childhood  had  never 
known  opposition,  this  hatred  is  sufficiently  accounted 
for  by  the  fact  of  his  having  been  compelled,  as  it  were, 
to  marry  Blanche,  when  his  affections  were  engaged 
elsewhere. 

The  departure  of  Pedro,  and  the  knowledge  that  he 
had  gone  to  join  his  mistress,  caused  a  great  commo- 
tion in  Valladolid,  the  nobles  dividing  and  taking  sides 
according  as  their  several  interests  made  it  appear 
most  advantageous.  The  king's  half-brothers,  Don 
Enrique  and  Don  Tello,  his  cousins,  the  infantes  of 
Aragon,  and  other  nobles,  took  horse  and  followed  him 
while  his  great  favorite,  Don  Alfonso  de  Alburquerque, 
who  had  been  a  party  to  the  introduction  of  Maria 
Padilla  to  the  king,  now  jealous  of  that  lady's  influence, 
which  threatened  to  counterbalance  his  own,  remained 
behind  and  joined  the  queens  in  taking  measures  for 
the  re-union  of  Don  Pedro  with  his  bride.  Meanwhile, 
the  king  apprised  of  the  schemes  of  his  minister,  and 
the  plots  against  his  idol,  whose  safety  he  had  reason 
to  consider  in  danger  from  his  knowledge  of  his  minis- 
ter's character,  sent  a  message  to  him,  purporting  that 
he  required  his  services,  but  the  wily  lord,  aware  of 
the  king's  intentions,  took  the  road  to  his  domains  on 
the  frontiers  of  Portugal,  and  there  fortified  himself. 

From  Montalvan  Don  Pedro  removed  to  Toledo,  ac- 
companied by  Maria,  and  there  gave  his  attention  to 
«^_  13 


290  THK    QTKKXS    ('•:•     SPAIN. 

the  disposal  of  the  different  offices  of  which  he  had  de- 
prived the  creatures  of  the  disgraced  minister.  The 
relatives  of  Dona  Maria  Padilla  representing  to  him 
the  mischiefs  that  would  arise  from  his  abandonment 
of  his  bride,  Pedro  finally  consented  to  return  to  Val- 
ladolid,  but,  from  whatsoever  cause  it  might  spring, 
his  invincible  aversion  seemed  to  increase  tenfold  in 
the  society  of  his  bride,  and  two  days  after  he  again 
left  her,  nor  could  any  persuasion  ever  induce  him 
even  to  see  her  again.  Blanche  then  removed  with 
her  mother-in-law  to  Tordesillas,  and  thence  to  Medi- 
na del  Campo.  While  in  the  latter  place,  Dona  Maria 
assisted  Don  Alvar  Perez  de  Castro*  and  Don  Alvar 
Gronzalez  Moran,  by  providing  them  with  fresh  horses, 
to  escape  into  Portugal.  These  gentlemen  had  been 
warned  by  the  humanity  of  Maria  Padilla,  that  the 
king,  whose  just  resentment  they  had  incurred,  in- 
tended to  arrest  them,  and  that  it  would  go  hard  with 
them  should  they  fall  into  his  hands.  Don  Pedro 
having  removed  to  Segovia,  there  bestowed  on  Don 
Tello,  his  brother,  the  hand  of  Dona  Juana,  daughter 
and  heiress  of  Don  Juan  Nunez  de  Lara,  Lord  of  Bis- 
cay. This  marriage  had  been  arranged  during  the 
life-time  of  the  late  sovereign.  Advised  that  Medina 
del  Campo  was  the  focus  of  the  secret  spirit  of  rebellion 
that  pervaded  the  whole  kingdom,  and  Blanche  the 
pretext  of  all  the  plots,  the  king  sent  orders  that  she 

*A  countryman  of  the  queen  dowager  and  brother  of  her 
orother's  mistress,  Ines  de  Castro,  subsequently  acknowledged 
queen  of  Portugal. 


BLANCHE    OF    BOTRBON.  291 

should  be  forthwith  removed  to  Arevalo,  and  deprived 
of  all  communication  with  his  mother.  Don  Pedro 
was  betrayed  on  all  sides,  for  the  grand  master  of 
Santiago  and  the  count  of  Trastamara,  even  while 
with  him  were  negotiating  with  Don  Alfonso  de  Albur- 
querque,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  Portugal,  and  these 
traitors  were  endeavoring  to  persuade  Pedro,  the  crown 
prince  of  Portugal,  to  dethrone  the  king  of  Castile.* 
The  prince  was  rather  inclined  to  favor  this  project, 
but  his  father  scouted  the  idea,  and  it  lived  and  died 
in  a  day.  The  agent  of  the  conspirators  was  Don 
Alvaro  Perez  de  Castro.  Dona  Juana,  a  sister  of  this 
gentleman,  does  not  seem  to  have  shared  the  hatred 
with  which  the  king  pursued  him.  This  lady,  widow 
of  Don  Diego  de  Haro,  lord  of  Biscay,  whose  beauty 
inspired  Pedro  with  a  passion  as  violent  as  it  proved 
evanescent,  was  too  proud  and  high-born  to  consent  to 
become  his  mistress,  and,  strange  to  tell,  Don  Pedro 
offered  her  his  hand  !  To  satisfy  her  scruples  and  re- 
move her  objections,  two  bishops  (of  Salamanca  and 
Avila)  were  summoned  to  Cuellar,  and  the  king  having 
given  the  reason  he  thought  valid  for  regarding  his 
marriage  with  Blanche  as  worthless,  these  courtier  pre- 
lates pronounced  him  free,  and  at  liberty  to  marry 
whomever  he  chose.  The  reason  assigned  by  Pedro 
was,  that  previous  to  his  marriage  with  the  French 

*  They  wished  the  prince  of  Portugal  to  claim  the  crown  of 
Castile  as  his  right,  he  being  the  son  of  Beatrix,  daughter  of 
Sancho  IV. 


292  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

princess,  he  had  entered  a  solemn  though  secret  protest 
against  that  union. 

This  mock  marriage  with  Dona  Juana  de  Castro 
was  performed  in  Cuellar  in  the  early  part  of  1354 ; 
but  the  lady  found  she  had  been  too  hasty  and  too 
credulous,  and  purchased  the  momentary  gratification 
of  her  vanity  at  the  expense  of  her  honor,  for  the  king 
left  her  the  day  after  the  wedding,  and  never  after 
came  near  her.  He,  however,  presented  lior  with  the 
town  of  Duenas,  and  she  persisted  to  her  death  in 
retaining  the  empty  title  of  queen,  though  it  was 
never  acknowledged.  That  two  high  dignitaries  of 
the  church  could  have  been  found  willing  thus  to 
desecrate  the  sacrament  they  professed  to  hold  sacred, 
and  perform  this  solemn  farce,  is  almost  incredible  and 
for  the  king  no  apology  can  be  offered  in  extenuation. 
It  would  appear  that  some  misunderstanding  had 
arisen  between  him  and  Dona  Maria  Pad  ilia,  but  his 
love  for  her  was  too  strong  to  be  quenched  thus  sud- 
denly, and  he  returned  to  her  immediately. 

I  will  not  attempt  to  follow  Don  Pedro  through 
the  civil  wars  that  continued  for  nineteen  years  with 
varied  success,  but  relate  all  that  was  ever  known  of 
the  hapless  Blanche.  From  Arevalo,  where  she  was 
strictly  guarded  rather  than  attended  by  Don  Pedro 
Grudiel,  bishop  of  Segovia,  Don  Tello  Gonzalez  Pal- 
ameque  and  Don  Juan  Manso,  who  were  officers  of 
the  queen's  household,  the  king  ordered  she  should  be 
conveyed  to  Toledo  under  the  charge  of  Don  Juan  de 
Hinestrosa,  and  there  lodged  in  the  Alcazar.  On  her 


BLANCHE    OK    BOURBON.  293 

way  thither  some  friend  contrived  to  advise  Blanche 
to  take  sanctuary  on  her  arrival  at  Toledo,  and  in 
accordance  with  this  suggestion  the  queen  expressed 
a  wish,  when  they  entered  the  town,  to  offer  up  her 
prayers  in  the  cathedral. 

Once  within  its  precincts,  she  refused  to  leave  them, 
and  Don  Juan  not  daring  to  violate  the  sacred  prem- 
ises, hastened  to  report  this  occurrence  to  his  master. 
The  ladies  of  Toledo  hearing  of  their  queen's  arrival 
immediately  waited  on  her,  and,  moved  by  the  appeal 
she  made  to  them  to  protect  her  life,  which  she  thought 
in  danger,  warmly  espoused  her  cause  and  urged 
their  husbands  and  brothers  in  her  favor  with  such 
success  that  they  prepared  to  resist  even  their  king.* 
A  deputation  of  the  principal  gentlemen  of  Toledo 
escorted  the  queen  and  her  attendants  to  the  Alcazar 
which  she  had  once  dreaded  as  a  prison,  but  was  now 
to  consider  as  a  place  of  safety,  and  a  number  of  noble 
Toledans  volunteered  to  mount  guard  for  her  better 
security.  This  occurred  on  the  14th  August,  and 
this  decisive  step  taken  it  was  necessary  to  prepare 
to  sustain  what  they  had  done.  Messengers  were 
dispatched  to  Don  Frederic,  Don  Enrique,  Don 
Alonzo  de  Alburquerque,  Don  Fernando  de  Castrof 
and  other  disaffected  lords  inviting  them  to  join  in  the 
queen's  defence,  and  offering  to  receive  them  into  the 
town  with  the  troops  they  might  collect. 

*  They  bade  them  beware  how  they  refused  to  protect  the  queen 
for  their  names  would  become  infamous  throughout  Castile, 
t  Another  brother  of  the  deceived  Dona  Juana  de  Castro. 


294  THK    CiUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

The  example  of  Toledo  was  followed  by  the  towns 
of  Cuenca,  Cordova,  laca,  and  Talavera.  Many  gentle- 
men also  thronged  to  the  queen's  standard.  The 
nobles  already  mentioned,  the  princes  of  Aragon,  the 
king's  three  brothers,  Don  Juan  de  la  Cerda,  many 
ricos-hornbres  and  cavaliers,  numbering  in  all  some 
seven  thousand  horse,  and  a  large  body  of  infantry* 
assembled  in  Medina  del  Campo,  and  from  thence 
sent  their  petitions,  or  rather  their  demands  to  the 
king.  The  principal  among  the  conditions  the  rebels 
dictated  to  their  sovereign,  were  ;  that  he  should  live 
with  his  queen,  dismiss  his  favorites,  (the  brother  and 
uncle  of  Maria  Padilla,)  of  whom  they  loudly  com- 
plained as  insolent  and  overbearing,  and  that  the 
offices  they  filled  should  be  bestowed  on  others,  whom 
they,  the  leaguers,  should  name.  If  these  conditions 
were  accepted  they  professed  themselves  willing  to 
return  to  their  allegiance.  The  bearer  of  these  pro- 
posals was  no  less  a  person  than  Leonora,  the  dow- 

*  Frederic  having  answered  the  call  of  the  Toledanos  at  the 
head  of  seven  hundred  horse,  was  received  and  lodged  in  the  sub- 
urbs of  the  town.  On  his  arrival  the  grand  master  repaired  to  the 
Alcazar,  and  in  an  interview  with  the  queen  swore  to  devote  his 
sword  to  her  service.  Being  apprised  that  the  army  of  the  insur- 
gents had  assembled  in  Medina  del  Campo,  Frederic  was  advised 
by  the  chief  townsmen  to  join  his  forces  with  theirs,  which  he 
did,  carrying  with  him  large  sums,  that  had  been  left  in  Toledo  in 
the  king's  treasury,  and  which  Blanche  collected  and  placed  in 
his  hands  to  be  used  by  the  leaguers  to  further  their  plans.  The 
proof  this  visit  afforded  of  the  devotion  of  the  grand  master  to 
the  service  of  Blanche,  vras  not  overlooked  by  his  enemies. 


BLANCHE    OF    BOIRBOM.  295 

ager  queen  of  Aragon,  but  her  previous  conduct  had 
given  rise  to  so  much  suspicion  in  her  nephew's  mind, 
that  her  persuasions  could  avail  but  little. 

The  nobles  having,  in  order  to  procure  the  necessary 
provisions  for  their  troops,  removed  to  the  territory  of 
Zamora,  Don  Pedro  went  to  Urena*  where  Maria 
Padilla  was  then  residing,  thus  giving  a  tacit  refusal 
to  their  demands.  After  vainly  attempting  to  possess 
themselves  of  Valladolid  and  Salamanca,  the  leaguers 
removed  to  Medina  del  Campo,  which  they  took  by 
scaling  the  walls,  and  here  one  of  the  chief  nobles, 
Don  Alfonso  de  Alburquerque,  died.  His  death  was 
attributed  to  poison,  and  the  king  accused  of  bribing 
his  leech  to  commit  the  deed,  though  this  report  is  as 
unfounded  as  that  of  many  other  crimes  laid  to  his 
charge. 

The  dying  noble  carrying  his  hatred  beyond  the 
portals  of  the  tomb,  ordered  in  his  will  that  his  body 
should  not  be  consigned  to  the  grave  until  the  enter- 
prise in  which  he  had  been  engaged  while  alive  had 
come  to  a  conclusion,  and  the  corpse  was,  in  accor- 
dance with  his  wishes,  borne  in  the  coffin  whitherso- 
ever the  army  moved.  The  queen  mother  openly 
declaring  against  her  son,  invited  the  leaguers  to  join 
her  in  Toro.  All  repaired  thither,  among  others,  the 
widow  of  Don  Alfonso,  Dona  Leonor,  dowager  of 
Aragon,  the  countess  Dona  Juana,  wife  of  Don  En- 

*  Don  Pedro  had  hut  six  hundred  men  with  him,  and  could  offer 
no  resistance. 


296  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

rique,*  and  other  high-born  ladies.  Here,  against  the 
express  will  of  the  king,  tlte  marriage  of  Don 
Fernando  de  Castro  with  Pedro's  half-sister,  Juana, 
daughter  of  Leonor  de  Guzman,  was  celebrated. 

Powerless  to  resist  the  large  force  of  the  insurgents, 
the  king  was  forced  to  consent  to  their  demands,  and 
join  them  in  Toro  ;  but  they  no  sooner  had  the  sov- 
ereign in  their  power,  than  they  exacted  the  most 
outrageous  concessions,  dismissing  all  those  whom  ho 
had  appointed  to  office,  replacing  them  from  their  own 
ranks,  and  obliging  the  king  to  distribute  among  the 
chiefs  a  number  of  towns  and  castles,  the  two  queens 
being  no  less  eager  than  the  nobles  for  a  share  of  the 
spoils.t 

Four  years  was  Don  Pedro  kept  thus  a  prisoner  by 
his  insolent  vassals,  enduring  every  species  of  morti- 
fication. This  situation  must  have  been  intolerable  to 
Don  Pedro,  who  could  not  take  the  air  without  being 
attended  by  a  body  guard  of  a  thousand  men  !  Some 
time  after,  however,  the  surveillance  was  somewhat 
relaxed,  and  being  out  one  day  hawking,  he  watched 
his  opportunity,  and  setting  spurs  to  his  horse  dis- 
tanced his  pursuers  and  made  his  escape  to  Segovia. 
From  this  town  he  sent  to  demand  of  the  queens,  his 
mother  and  aunt,  the  royal  seals,  intimating  that  if 
they  did  not  send  them,  he  had  metal  to  cast  others. 
They  however  made  no  difficulty  of  surrendering  them, 

*  Afterwards  queen  of  Castile. 

t  Having  now  attained  their  object,  the  leaguers  buried  the 
corpse  of  Don  Alfonso  in  Toro. 


BLANCHE    OF     BOURBON.  297 

and  the  king's  departure  breaking  up  the  league,  nearly 
all  the  nobles  retired  to  their  own  domains.  From  Se- 
govia he  removed  to  Burgos,  where,  having  convened 
the  Cortes,  he  complained  bitterly  of  his  mother  and 
the  league  that  had  held  him  a  prisoner, and  requested 
a  grant  of  a  considerable  sum  in  order  to  raise  troops 
and  punish  the  conspirators.  This  was  readily  granted, 
and  Pedro  immediately  took  the  most  energetic  mea- 
sures for  the  chastisement  of  his  rebellious  vassals. 

Having  gone  to  Medina  del  Campo,  the  irritated 
sovereign  there  commenced  the  terrible  retaliation 
with  which  he  mercilessly  visited  their  treason  on  the 
heads  of  the  offenders,  taking  signal  vengeance  when- 
ever the  ill  fortune  of  his  enemies  placed  them  in  his 
hands.  Many  were  the  heads  that  fell  in  Medina  del 
Campo,  though  whether  this  severity  was  not  neces- 
sary, nay,  indispensable  rather  than  wanton  cruelty, 
if  we  take  into  consideration  the  distracted  state  of 
the  country,  I  will  leave  the  reader  to  decide. 

From  Medina,  the  king  returned  to  Toro  which  he 

NOTE—  The  leaguers  kept  no  more  faith  with  each  otherthan  with 
their  sovereign.  The  king's  aunt  Leonor,  and  her  sons,  the  infantes 
of  Aragon  having  some  time  previous  to  his  departure,  entered 
into  a  secret  treaty  with  Don  Pedro,  connived  at  his  escape.  The 
price  of  the  treachery  of  Leonor  and  her  sons  to  their  own  party 
was  stipulated  as  follows.  To  Dona  Leonor  the  town  of  Roa; 
to  Don  Fernando  of  Aragon,  the  town  of  Madrigal,  the  Real  of 
Man/anares,  Aranda,  and  other  places  in  Andalusia.  To  his 
brother,  Juan  of  Aragon,  Biscay,  Lara;  Valdecorneja  and  Oropesa, 
and  the  post  of  governor  of  the  frontiers.  Other  lords  joining  them, 
were  paid  in  proportion.  The  king  was  scrupulous  in  putting  each 
in  possession  of  the  places  promised  them. 

13* 


298  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

besieged.  On  the  king's  approach,  Don  Enrique  and 
Don  Frederic  left  Toro  and  took  the  way  to  Toledo, 
but  the  inhabitants  of  that  town  were  now  greatly 
divided,  and  the  majority  refused  to  admit  the  princes, 
and  advised  them  to  retire  to  their  own  possessions. 

The  princes,  displeased  that  the  proffered  hospital- 
ity of  the  Toledanos  should  be  reduced  to  advice,  broke 
into  the  town  forcibly,  with  the  assistance  of  some  of 
their  adherents  within  the  gates.  The  townsmen  then 
summoned  the  king,  who  came  immediately,  and, 
though  the  princes  attempted  to  prevent  his  entrance, 
they  were  forced  to  yield  and  retreat  with  their  follow- 
ers to  the  number  of  800  men  through  one  gate,  as 
the  king  entered  by  another.  Here  again  the  useless 
efforts  of  the  grand  master  in  favor  of  Blanche  were 
noted  to  his  disadvantage,  and  fed  the  king's  resent- 
ment without  bene fitting  her.  The  king,  in  order  to 
avoid  seeing  the  queen,  took  up  his  residence  in  a 
private  house,  and  shortly  after  Blanche  was,  by  his 
orders,  removed  to  the  castle  of  Siguenza.  Twenty- 
four  of  the  chief  rebels  of  Toledo  were  executed  during 
the  king's  stay.  No  half  measures  were  possible ;  the 
rebellion  was  spreading  rapidly,  and  to  pardon  one  of 
its  heads  was  to  let  loose  another  foe.  Strange  to  say, 
the  decrees  issued  by  Don  Pedro  prove  that  amid  this 
confusion  and  warfare,  the  administration  of  civil  af- 
fairs was  carefully  attended  to. 

Don  Pedro  entered  Toro  on  the  sixth  of  January, 
1357,  and  here  new  executions  took  place.  This  town 
had  been  the  head-quarters  of  the  rebels,  and  the  king 


BLANCHE    OF    BOURBON.  299 

bore  a  keen  remembrance  of  the  insults  he  had  en- 
dured there.  On  the  news  of  the  king's  approach,  his 
mother  sent  to  request  the  assistance  of  Don  Enrique 
and  Don  Frederic,  but,  though  both  came,  and  the 
town  made  a  desperate  resistance,  the  former,  foresee- 
ing it  would  be  vain,  retreated  to  Galicia.  The 
Grand  Master  having  held  a  parley  with  the  king  from 
the  walls,  agreed  to  throw  himself  on  his  mercy,  and 
with  only  six  or  eight  followers  issued  from  the  gates 
and  repaired  to  his  brother's  camp,  where  he  was  kind- 
ly received.  Well  it  was  that  he  did  so,  as  some  of 
the  citizens  had  agreed  to  open  the  gates  to  the  king 
that  very  night,  and  Frederic's  reliance  on  his  brother 
alone  saved  his  life.  The  queen,  seeing  herself  forsa- 
ken by  the  Grand  Master,  took  refuge  in  the  Alcazar 
with  many  gentlemen,  while  others  sought  conceal- 
ment in  the  town.  The  king  having  entered  that 
night,  on  the  following  day  came  to  the  palace 
gates  and  summoned  the  queen  to  come  forth.  Maria 
answered  with  an  entreaty  that  he  would  ensure  the 
lives  of  those  who  were  with  her,  but  the  king  bade 
her  come  forth,  and  he  would  do  that  which  should 
seem  best  to  him.  The  queen  mother  then  came  forth 
accompanied  by  Dona  Juana,  the  wife  of  Don  Enrique, 
and  all  the  gentlemen  that  had  taken  refuge  with  her. 
Her  forced  compliance  was  of  no  avail  to  soften  her 
son,  who  had  probably  already  given  his  orders,  for  the 
ballesteros  instantly  despatched  the  four  followers  of 
the  queen,  though  she  was  leaning  on  the  arms  of  two 
of  them  at  the  time.  One  of  the  victims  of  the  king's 


300  TIIK    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

ire  was  Don  Martin  Alfonso  Tello,  a  Portuguese,  who 
had  come  with  the  queen  on  her  return  from  a  visit  to 
Portugal,  and  whom  it  was  suspected  she  favored  more 
than  was  consistent  with  propriety. 

When  the  queen  recovered  from  the  long  fit  into 
which  the  sight  of  these  massacres  had  thrown  her, 
she  uttered  the  most  frightful  maledictions  on  the 
head  of  her  son,  who  took  no  farther  notice  than  order- 
ing her  to  be  removed  to  the  palace  where  she  resided. 
She  shortly  after  requested  and  obtained  leave  to 
retire  to  Portugal.  To  those  who  unconditionally 
threw  themselves  on  his  mercy,  Pedro  was  lenient,  as 
happened  in  the  case  of  Martin  Abaroa,  who,  previous 
to  the  gates  being  opened,  had  taken  the  king's  young 
half-brother,  Juan,  in  his  arms  and  asked  the  king  to 
guaranty  his  safety,  that  he  might  come  to  him  ;  but 
Don  Pedro  replying  that  he  would  only  forgive  his 
brother,  and  would  order  him  to  be  killed,  Abaroa 
threw  himself  unconditionally  on  his  mercy,  and  com- 
ing down  with  the  boy,  knelt  at  his  feet.  Don  Pedro, 
though  he  turned  from  him,  gave  him  his  life. 

Though  soon  after  involved  in  a  war  with  the  king 
of  Aragon,  who  sided  with  his  rebellious  nobles,  and 
continually  betrayed  by  those  in  whom  he  most  trust- 
ed, Don  Pedro,  by  his  energy,  bravery  and  perseverance, 
repeatedly  defeated  the  plots  of  the  traitors.  Don 
Enrique,  hopeless  of  succor,  and  fearful  of  falling  into 
the  hands  of  his  irritated  brother,  fled  into  France, 
where  he  was  kindly  received  by  John,  who  furnished 
him  with  troops  to  return  and  recommence  hostilities. 


BLANCHE    07    BOURBON.  301 

The  victorious  Pedro,  entering  Biscay,  Don  Tello  was 
forced  to  fly,  and  the  Countess,  his  wife,*  being  thrown 
into  prison,  and  the  infante  Juan  of  Aragon  who  claim- 
ed  Biscay  as  his  wife's  patrimony,  slain,  that  lordship 
was  annexed  to  the  crown.  Don  Frederic  was  the  next 
victim  of  the  king's  resentment,  or  rather  of  the 
necessity  of  the  times,  being  slain  on  the  29th  of  May, 
1358,  in  Seville,  some  say  by  the  hands  of  the  king 
himself.  In  1361  took  place  the  death  of  the  hapless 
Blanche,  who  had  been  kept  a  close  prisoner  since  her 
removal  from  Toledo.  The  queen  had  been  taken 
from  the  castle  of  Siguenza  to  that  of  Xerez,  and  from 
thence  to  Medina  Sidonia,  where  she  ended  her  sad 
existence.  Whether  her  death  was  natural  or  brought 
about  by  violence,  has  never  been  ascertained.  Some 
writers  assert  that  it  was  effected  by  poison,  others 
say  she  fell  by  the  dagger  of  one  of  the  king's  balles- 
teros,  acting  by  the  king's  express  command. 

The  greatest  enemies  of  Don  Pedro,  the  most  de- 
termined partisans  of  the  bastard  of  Trastamara,  the 
writers  who  have  labored  most  to  attach  every  species 
of  odium  to  his  memory,  have  never  been  able  to  prove 
that  Blanche  was  murdered.  The  impenetrable  veil 

*Don  Tello  de  Guzman  had  married  Dona  Juana  de  Lara,  and 
Juan,  the  son  of  Leonor,  had  married  the  younger  sister,  Isabel  de 
Lara.  These  two  ladies  were  the  heiresses  of  the  lordship  of 
Biscay.  Isabel  and  her  mother-in-law,  Leonor,  the  king's  aunt 
were,  by  his  orders,  imprisoned  in  the  Castle  of  Castro  Xeria,  and 
both  sisters,  as  well  as  Queen  Leonor,  subsequently  put  to  death^- 
Juana  de  Lara  in  Seville,  Isabel  in  Herez  de  la  Frontera,  and 
Leonor  in  Castro  Xerix. 


302  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

of  mystery  that  shrouds  that  event  has  allowed  full 
scope  to  the  fertile  imaginations  of  the  poet  and  the 
novelist,  and  the  supposed  jealousy  between  the  king 
and  the  grand  master  has  contributed  not  a  little  to 
heighten  the  romance. 

The  same  year  saw  the  death  of  Maria  Padilla,  who 
had  for  nearly  ten  years  been  the  object  of  Pedro's  af- 
fection. Her  loss  was  a  great  blow  to  the  king,  who 
endeavored  to  find  consolation  by  bestowing  those 
honors  on  her  when  dead  which  he  could  not  confer  on 
her  while  living.  Having  convoked  the  Cortes  in  Seville 
in  the  following  year,  he  declared  that  Maria  had  been 
lawfully  wedded  to  him  previous  to  his  marriage  with 
Blanche,  and  that  he  had  consented  to  his  union  with 
the  latter  only  in  the  hope  of  preventing  a  civil  war. 
As  witnesses  of  the  marriage  he  brought  his  chaplain, 
his  chancellor,  and  a  brother  of  Maria.  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Toledo  having  received  their  oaths  to  that 
effect,  no  farther  opposition  was  made,  and  the  four 
children  to  whom  Maria  had  given  birth  were  declared 
legitimate  heirs  to  the  crown. 

These  were  Alfonso,  then  four  years  of  age,  who 
died  shortly  after,  Beatrix  who  took  the  veil,  Con- 
stance, who  married  John  of  Graunt,  Duke  of  Lancas- 
ter, and  Maria,  who  married  Edmund,  Duke  of  York. 
It  was  thought  by  many  that  Don  Pedro  had  proclaimed 
the  lawfulness  of  his  union  with  Maria  to  procure  the 
legitimation  of  her  children,  and  baffle  the  hopes  of 
the  numerous  pretenders  to  the  crown. 


BLANCHE    OF    BORBON.  303 

This  prior  union,  however,  was  the  reason  he  chose 
to  assign  for  his  constant  refusal  to  live  with  Blanche. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  there  is  not  sufficient  evidence  of  a 
pre-contract  with  Dona  Maria  to  warrant  her  being 
placed  in  the  rank  of  the  queens  of  Castile.  Navarre 
having  joined  Aragon  against  Don  Pedro,  and  France 
also  assisting  Don  Enrique,  in  asserting  his  claim  on  the 
crown,  the  Castilian  sovereign  was  compelled  to  solicit 
the  aid  of  Edward  the  III.  king  of  England,  for  which 
purpose  having  gone  to  Bayonne,  he  there  had  an  inter- 
view with  Edward,  the  black  prince,  who  received  him 
with  kindness  and  readily  promised  his  assistance,  for 
which  he  was  to  be  amply  remunerated  with  the  lordship 
of  Biscay,  56,000  florins  of  gold  for  his  own  use,  and 
550,000  for  the  pay  of  his  troops,  the  daughters  of  Don 
Pedro  being  left  as  hostages  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  con- 
ditions. In  the  spring  of  1 367,  the  English  allies  having 
entered  Spain,  a  battle  was  fought  between  the  forces 
of  the  two  brothers,  in  which  the  army  of  Don  Enrique, 
although  amounting  to  70,000  men,  was  completely 
worsted.  This  battle  was  fought  on  the  third  of  April, 
in  the  vicinity  of  Najara,  the  lawful  prince  and  the 
usurper*  defending  their  respective  claims  in  person, 
Pedro  especially  displaying  the  undaunted  bravery  that 
was  his  chief  characteristic.  Don  Tello,  who  command- 
ed a  body  of  horse,  disgraced  himself  by  a  hasty  retreat, 
nor  did  any  part  of  the  army  appear  to  oppose  with 

•  Enrique,  after  -overrunning  Castile,  had  caused  himself  to  be 
proclaimed  king,  in  1366. 


304  THE    QUEEN'S    OF    SPAIN. 

any  degree  of  energy  the  troops  of  Pedro,  and  Enrique 
fled  into  Aragon  with  a  few  attendants  only. 

At  the  close  of  the  year,  Enrique  returned  to  Castile 
and  renewed  the  contest,  which  was  continued  with 
alternate  success  on  both  sides,  until  1369,  when 
Don  Pedro  was  beseiged  in  Montiel  and  cut  off  from 
all  supplies.  In  this  extremity  one  of  his  knights, 
Men  Rodriguez  de  Sanabria,  having  solicited  and 
obtained  an  interview  with  the  famous  Bertrand  Du 
Guesclin,  one  of  the  commanders  of  the  French  mer- 
cenaries, in  the  army  of  Enrique,  proposed  to  him 
that  he  should  facilitate  the  escape  of  the  Castilian 
monarch.  For  this  service  he  offered  the  French 
knight  the  hereditary  possession  of  the  towns  of  Soria, 
Almazan,  Monteagudo  Alienza,  Deza  and  Moron, 
besides  200,000  doubloons  in  gold.  The  conditions 
were  accepted,  and  it  was  settled  that  Don  Pedro 
should  leave  Montiel  under  cover  of  the  night,  and 
repair  to  the  tent  of  the  Breton  chief  who  was  to  escort 
him  thence  to  a  place  of  safety.  At  the  appointed 
hour  the  king  made  his  appearance,  attended  by  three 
of  his  devoted  followers;  but,  in  the  meanwhile 
Du  Guesclin  had  stained  his  honor  and  imprinted  on 
his  name  a  brand  of  shame  that  no  after  deeds  of  glory 
could  erase. 

The  traitor  had.  I'M-  a  still  larger  reward,  sold  the 
monarch,  who  trusting  to  his  knightly  faith,  had  placed 
himself  in  his  hands.  Having  dismounted  and  entered 
the  tent  of  his  betrayer,  the  king  urged  him  to  haste 
and  take  horse,  to  which  Du  Guesclin  replied  that  the 


BLANCHE    OF    BOURBON.  305 

horses  were  saddling.  Pedro's  suspicions  being  roused 
by  the  delay,  he  insisted  on  returning  to  the  fortress, 
when  the  truth  was  made  evident  by  the  entrance  of 
Enrique.  Time  had  probably  greatly  changed  the 
king,  for  his  brother  did  not  recognize  him,  but 
advancing  said  ;  Where  is  the  bastard  who  calls  him- 
self king  of  Castile?"  To  this  the  king  instantly 
replied,  "  Thou  art  the  bastard,  I  am  the  son  of  King 
Alfonso."  On  this  Enrique,  who  was  completely  armed, 
struck  the  king  in  the  face  with  his  dagger,  but  the 
latter  instantly  grappled  with  him,  and  both  fell  to  the 
ground.  Though  unarmed,  Don  Pedro's  activity  and 
strength  of  muscle  gave  him  the  advantage,  and  in 
this  desperate  struggle,  having  contrived  to  get  Enrique 
under  him,  he  would  have  decided  the  contest  by  throt- 
ling  his  antagonist,  had  not  Du  Gruesclin,  seeing  the 
prince's  danger,  thrust  the  king  down  and  held  him, 
while  Enrique  plunged  his  dagger  in  his  throat.  Some 
say  the  Frenchman  wounded  the  king  in  the  back  while 
Enrique  was  underneath  him,  and  thus  compelled  him  to 
relinquish  his  hold.  Thus  perished  Don  Pedro  in  his 
thirty-sixth  year,  on  the  23d  March,  in  the  year  1369. 
This  truly  unfortunate  sovereign  has  been  depicted 
with  the  blackest  colors,  and  stigmatised  as  a  capri- 
cious tyrant,  a  monster  revelling  in  the  miseries  he 
inflicted,  and  sparing  neither  friend  nor  foe.  Without 
seeking  to  exonerate  him  from  the  blame  that  many  of 
his  actions  undoubtedly  deserved,  I  would  remind  the 
reader  that  almost  everything  that  has  been  written 
of  him  is  from  the  pens  of  the  adherents  of  his  sue- 


306  THE    Cil'KKNS    OK     SPAIN. 


cessor,  and  that  these  sought  to  make  good  their  mas- 
ter's precarious  tenure  of  a  crown  to  which  he  had 
not  the  shadow  of  a  claim,*  by  exaggerating  every  evil 
trait  in  his  predecessor. 

Don  Pedro  had  been  left  from  his  infancy  under  the 
care  of  a  mother  whose  subsequent  conduct  showed  her 
to  be  very  unfit  for  the  charge,  and  who  aggravated  by 
her  own  wrongs,  and  actuated  by  the  hope  of  revenge, 
instilled  the  most  pernicious  doctrines  in  her  child's  mind, 
then  ascending,  at  the  early  age  of  sixteen,  a  throne  sur- 
rounded by  secret  foes,  false  friends  and  selfish  and 
ambitious  partisans,  all  agreeing  on  one  point,  viz  :  to 
consider  the  prince  as  a  mere  tool,  and  his  dominions 
a  lawful  prey,  of  which,  according  to  the  strength  of 
each,  they  were  to  have  a  larger  or  less  share.  During 
the  first  four  years  of  his  reign,  a  mere  cipher,  whose 
name  was  made  use  of  to  sanction  every  atrocity,  Don 
Pedro  was  far  more  entitled  to  pity  than  execration. 
From  the  day  he  assumed  the  diadem,  to  that  in 
which,  together  with  his  life,  it  was  traitorously 
wrested  from  him,  he  was  constantly  at  war  with 
his  grasping  kinsmen  and  rebel  barons,  disputing  the 
possession  of  his  hereditary  kingdom,  inch  by  inch, 
with  a  perseverance  deserving  better  success. 

During  the  long  reign,  for  so  it  may  be  called,  of 
his  father's  mistress,  the  popularity  her  intellect  and 
tact  had  enabled  her  to  acquire,  and  transmit  to  her 

*  If  the  daughters  of  Don  Pedro  and  Maria  Padilla  were  illegit- 
imate, they  yet  stood  nearer  to  the  throne  than  the  son  of  Alfonso 
XII.  and  Leonor  de  Guzman. 


BLANCHE    OF    BOURBON.  307 

numerous  family,  who,  moreover,  strengthened  them- 
selves by  their  marriages  with  the  wealthiest  heiresses 
of  Castile,  prepared  the  way  for  the  daring,  and  with 
one  exception*  unprecedented  attempt  in  Spain  of  an 
illegitimate  son  to  dispossess  the  legitimate  heir  of  the 
throne.  Pedro  had  faults,  and  they  were  the  natural 
results  of  the  education  and  examples  he  had  received. 
That  he  committed  crimes  is  equally  undeniable,  but, 
with  his  passions,  they  were  the  almost  inevitable 
consequences  of  the  situation  in  which  he  was  placed. 
To  judge  impartially  of  an  action,  we  must  consider  the 
cause  and  motives  for  it.  What  in  another  monarch 
would  have  been  unwarrantable  cruelty,  in  Pedro 
was  strict  but  necessary  and  retributive  justice.  In 
many  cases  where  he  is  censured  as  merciless,  leni- 
ency would  have  been  weakness. 

The  spirit  of  rebellion  had  cast  its  roots  far  and 
wide,  and  he  was  compelled  to  apply  the  axe  deeply 
to  eradicate  them.  History,  while  it  takes  note  of 
the  errors  of  this  much  abused  prince,  should  also 
chronicle  the  many  great  and  good  traits  that  partially 
redeem  his  character  from  the  odium  cast  on  it. 
Taught  suspicion  by  the  falseness  of  those  around  him, 
betrayed  by  his  own  mother  and  his  aunt,  forgiving  re- 
peatedly and  receiving  into  his  grace  traitors,  who,  as 
often  cast  off  their  allegiance  and  turned  their  swords 
against  him,  what  wonder  that  a  naturally  fiery  tem- 
per should  have  at  times  carried  him  too  far,  that,  ex- 

*  Mauregato  the  bastard  son  of  Alfonso  I.  usurped  the  crown 
from  his  nephew  Alfonso  II. 


308  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

asperated    by    these    never-ending    plots,    his  justice 
should  have  merged  into  cruelty,  that  he  should  have 
felt  justified  in  crushing  those  who  so  unscrupulously 
sought  to  deprive  him  of  his  rights?     His  most  bitter 
detractors  allow  that  he  never  took  the  life  of  one  who 
had  not  been  convicted  or  strongly  suspected  of  treason. 
He  was  ruthless,  but  not  without  much  provocation. 
One  great  argument  in  his  favor  is,  that  the  commons 
loved,  while  the  great  vassals  hated  him,  and  the  bal- 
lads in  which  the  traditions  of   Las  justicias  del  Rey 
Don  Pedro  are  preserved,  prove  that  his  memory  was 
long  venerated  by  the  lower  ranks.     A  still  more  con- 
vincing proof  of  the  love  the  people  bore  Don  Pedro  is 
found  in  the  fact  that  wherever  resistance  was  opposed 
to  the  entrance  of  Henry   in   any  town,  the   struggle 
against  him  was  maintained  by  the  citizens,  while  the 
lords  and  gentry  sided  with  the  usurper.     Administer- 
ing even-handed  justice  to  the   poor  as  well  as  to  the 
rich,  to  the   peasant   as  well  as  to  his  powerful  lord, 
imposing  no  fresh    imposts    on  the  people,  defending 
their  rights  as  tenaciously  as  he  did  his  own,  carrying 
his  personal  bravery  to  the  verge  of  fool-hardiness,  and, 
after  a  reign  of  continual  warfare,  dying  at  length,  like 
the  lion  at  bay,  one  against    a    multitude,  betrayed, 
sold  and  murdered,  resigning  his  crown  only  with  his 
life,  Don  Pedro  was  one  as  much  sinned  against  as 
sinning.     In  person  he  was  spare  and  tall,  with  sin- 
ewy and  well-knit  limbs,  a  fair  complexion  and  brown 
hair,  and  he  gpoke  with   a  slight,  but  not  unpleasing 
lisp.     To  those  who  served  him  faithfully,  he  was  mu- 


DOSlA    JUANA    MANUEL    DE    VILLENA.  309 

nificent  and  kind,  and  his  will  proves  that  he  forgot 
none  of  his  good  friends  and  loyal  servants,  for  he  not 
only  left  them  ample  legacies  but  strenuously  enjoined 
his  heirs  to  continue  them  in  their  offices.  It  is  seldom 
that  a  great  personage  disappears  from  the  face  of  the 
earth  but  the  event  is  found  to  have  been  proph- 
esied by  some  cunning  seer,  and  many  announcements 
of  his  impending  fate  are  said  to  have  been  conveyed 
to  Don  Pedro.  Among  other  things  it  was  told  him, 
that  from  the  tower  of  La  Estrella  he  would  go  forth 
to  die.  The  king  had  never  been  able  to  find  out 
where  such  a  tower  existed,  until  on  leaving  Montrel 
he  happened  to  look  back  and  see  on  one  of  the  towers 
of  the  town  these  words,  carved  in  the  stone — This  is 
the  tower  of  La  Estrella. 


DONA  JUANA  MANUEL  DE  VILLENA. 
1  369. 

REIGN  OF    ENRIQUE  II.,  (BASTARD  OF    TRASTAMARA.) 

DoJfA  JUANA,  born  in  1339,  was  the  daughter  of  Don 
Juan  Manuel  and  of  Dona  Blanca  de  la  Cerda  y  Lara. 
Of  royal  descent  on  both  sides,*  this  high-born  dame 
was  thought  by  Alfonso  XII.  a  desirable  match  for 
Enrique,  count  of  Trastamara,  the  son  of  his  beloved 

*  Her  father  was  the  grandson  of  St.  Ferdinand,  her  mother  was 
the  granddaughter  of  the  eldest  son  of  Alfonso  the  Astrologer,  and 
daughter  of  the  infante  Don  Fernando  de  la  Cerda, 


310  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

Leonor  de  Guzman.  But  the  proud  relatives  of  Juana 
shrank  from  an  alliance  even  wilh  royal  blood  when 
illegitimate,  and  ambition,  pointing  to  a  seat  on  the 
throne  itself,  turned  in  disdain  from  the  bastard  to  the 
legitimate  scion  of  royalty.  The  will  of  the  monarch 
would,  however,  in  all  probability,  have  triumphed  over 
that  of  the  subject  had  not  death  intervened  and  frus- 
trated for  a  season  the  plans  of  Alfonso.  No  sooner 
had  this  event  placed  the  crown  on  young  Pedro's  head 
than  Don  Fernando  Manuel  endeavored  to  break  his 
sister's  contract  with  Enrique,  and  effect  an  alliance 
with  the  sovereign  himself,  or  at  least  with  his  cousin, 
Don  Fernando,  the  infante  of  Aragon. 

Leonor,  aware  of  the  intentions  of  the  "  high-reach- 
ing "  noble  in  her  affectionate  solicitude  for  her  son's 
interests,  hastened  the  nuptials,  and  probably  her  own 
violent  death.  The  lady  being  under  the  charge  of 
Leonor  shared  her  imprisonment.  The  marriage  was 
performed  in  secret,  the  bride  probably  preferring  the 
gentle  and  insinuating  Enrique  to  his  brave  but  hasty 
and  impetuous  brother.  Far  from  strengthening  her 
own  cause  by  her  son's  marriage  with  the  wealthy 
heiress,  this  impolitic  and  dangerous  step  completed 
the  ruin  of  Leonor,  and  confirmed  the  enmity  between 
the  brothers.  Don  Pedro,  who  had  resolved  on  the 
enlargement  of  Leonor,  now  left  her  entirely  at  his  mo- 
ther's disposal,  and  the  queen  ordered  her  to  be  more 
strictly  confined,  and  finally  strangled.  Henry  fled 
to  Asturias  with  his  bride,  arid  two  attendants,  and 
fortified  his  town  of  Grijon,  using  the  jewels  given 


JUANA    MANUEL    DE    VILLENA.  311 

to  him  by  his  mother  in  Seville,  for  the  pay  of  his 
troops.  Having  come  to  terms  with  the  king,  Enrique 
attended  his  wedding  in  Valladolid.  and,  together 
with  his  brother  Tello,  was  charged  with  the  defence 
of  the  frontiers  of  Portugal  against  any  attack  from 
Alburquerque.  While  there,  the  brothers  entered  into 
a  secret  league  with  the  very  men  against  whom  they 
were  sent. 

The  king,  however,  was  informed  of  these  negotia- 
tions, and  it  was  then  that,  to  strengthen  himself 
against  his  brothers,  and  punish  Don  Tello,  he  gave 
Dona  Isabel  de  Lara  in  marriage  to  his  cousin,  Juan  of 
Aragon,  and  ordered  that  henceforth  he  and  his  wife 
should  be  called  the  lords  of  Biscay,  though  that  title 
belonged  to  the  wife  of  Don  Tello,  she  being  the  elder 
of  the  sisters. 

The  infantes  of  Aragon  were  not  more  faithful  than 
the  Gruzmans,  and,  joining  with  the  latter,  formed  the 
league  that  in  Toro  dictated  laws  to  their  sovereign. 
The  next  fact  we  find  mentioned  of  the  countess  Juana 
is  her  imprisonment  in  Toro  by  Pedro's  order,  after  the 
taking  of  that  city.  Enrique  himself  had  escaped  to 
G-alicia,  and  it  is  probable  he  had  found  it  impossible 
to  take  his  countess  with  him,  as  we  cannot  otherwise 
account  for  his  leaving  her  to  the  mercy  of  Pedro. 
Juana  remained  a  close  prisoner  during  her  husband's 
absence  in  France,  whence,  at  the  request  of  the 
king  of  Aragon,  he  returned  to  assist  that  sovereign  in 
his  wars  against  Castile,  in  1357.  It  was  in  this  year 
that  Pedro  Carrillo,  a  devoted  adherent  of  the  count 


312  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

of  Trastamara,  determined  to  make  an  attempt  to  free 
Dona  Juana,  and  bring  her  to  Aragon.  To  this  end 
he  sent  to  propose  his  services  to  Don  Pedro,  offering, 
in  case  the  king  would  endow  him  with  lands  in  Gas- 
tile,  to  abandon  the  banner  of  the  count,  and  transfer 
his  allegiance  to  him.  Don  Pedro  accepted  the  proffer. 
Carrillo  came  to  Castile,  and  was  rewarded  with  the 
town  of  Tamariz,  and  its  territory. 

His  scheme  succeeded,  and  in  the  month  of  Decem- 
ber having  contrived  to  obtain  access  to  the  countess, 
and  procured  her  a  disguise,  they  escaped  together  to 
Aragon.  The  rage  of  Don  Pedro  at  finding  himself 
thus  duped  by  the  traitor,  can  be  better  imagined  than 
described.  On  the  twenty-fourth  of  August  of  the 
following  year,  Dona  Juana  gave  birth,  in  the  town  of 
Epila,  to  Don  Juan,  who  succeeded  his  father.  The 
success  that  during  a  short  time  attended  the  arms  of 
Enrique,  assisted  by  his  French  allies,  seemed  decisive, 
and  he  was  crowned  in  Las  Huelgas  in  the  spring  of 
1366,  on  which  occasion  he  sent  for  his  wife  and  two 
children,  Juan  and  Leonor,  who  had  remained  in 
Aragon. 

*"With  Dona  Juana  came  the  archbishop  of  Zara- 
gosa,  Don  Lopez  Fernandez  de  Luna,  and  other  nobles 

*  Previous  to  her  departure  from  Aragon,  Juana  was  made  by 
the  king  to  swear  on  the  gospel  that  she  would  do  all  in  her  pow- 
er to  induce  Henry  to  keep  the  agreement  he  had  entered  into  with 
that  sovereign.  Henry  had  promised,  in  return  for  the  assistance 
afforded  him,  in  the  usurpation  of  the  crown  of  Castile,  to  give  to 
the  king  of  Aragon,  the  kingdom  of  Murcia,  and  a  large  portion  of 
that  of  Toledo. 


DOSfA    JUANA    MANUEL    DE    VILLENA.  313 

who  accompanied  Dona  Leonor,  the  infanta  of  Aragon, 
who,  the  sovereigns  had  agreed  should  marry  the 
infante  Don  Juan,  son  of  the  count,  or  as  he  now 
called  himself,  Enrique  II.  The  little  betrothed  bride 
was  of  the  same  age  as  the  bridegroom,  having  been 
born  in  February  of  the  same  year. 

The  stay  of  Juana  in  Castile  was  short,  for  Enrique 
losing,  on  the  third  of  April,  of  the  following  year,  the 
battle  of  Najera,  his  consort  and  children  were  forced 
to  make  a  precipitate  retreat  into  Aragon.  The 
numerous  suite  of  ladies  and  followers  that  had  con- 
tributed to  add  splendor  to  the  court  Dona  Juana  held  in 
Burgos,  now  only  increased  the  difficulties  and  perils 
of  her  flight,  and  when,  after  escaping  many  dangers 
the  fugitives  at  length  reached  Zaragosa,  it  was  to 
meet  that  cold  reception  with  which  worldly  friends 
greet  the  fallen.  The  unhappy  Juana  oppressed  with 
grief,  arising  from  her  ignorance  of  what  had  befallen 
Enrique,  of  whom  she  had  received  no  tidings  since  the 
battle,  was  treated  with  small  courtesy  by  Don  Pedro 
IV.  who  annulling  the  marriage  contract  of  his  daugh- 
ter took  her  from  Juana,  and  entered  into  a  negotia- 
tion with  his  namesake  of  Castile,  and  the  prince  of 
Wales.  Many  at  the  court  of  Aragon  favored  the 
cause  of  the  legitimate  prince,  and  bore  ill  will  to 
Enrique  for  his  participation  in  the  murder  of  Don  Fer- 
nando, infante  of  Aragon,  (vide  queens  of  Aragon, 
reign  of  Pedro  IV,)  and  Juana  soon  found  that  her 
residence  there  was  no  longer  safe,  and  determined  to 
join  her  husband  in  France,  whither  he  had  gone  to 
14 


314  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

solicit  fresh  aid.  The  French  monarch  who  had  re- 
ceived Henry  with  great  kindness,  and  furnished  him 
with  large  sums  of  money,  now  gave  him  the  castle 
of  Paupertius,  on  the  frontiers  of  Aragon,  as  a  resi- 
dence for  his  family.  Henry  having  again  raised 
troops,  with  the  assistance  of  the  French  king,  once 
more  returned  to  Castile  with  his  consort,  and  son, 
leaving  his  daughter,  the  infanta  Leonor,  in  France. 

On  their  way  through  Aragon,  Juan  was  joined  by 
the  attendants  she  had  been  obliged  to  leave  in  Zara- 
gosa.  In  Burgos,  Henry  captured  the  king  of  Naples, 
one  of  Pedro's  allies,  and  sent  him  to  the  castle  of 
Curiel,  where  he  remained  until  ransomed  by  his  wife, 
queen  Juana,  for  80,000  dollars.  Dona  Juana  and  her 
son  remained  in  Toledo  until  after  the  murder  in 
Montiel  of  king  Pedro,  when  Henry  remained  in  peace- 
ful possession  of  the  throne. 

Toledo  having  surrendered  to  the  victor,  Juana 
removed  to  that  city,  and  the  court  was  established 
there.  The  new  sovereigns  having  sent  to  France  for 
their  daughter  Leonor,  that  princess,  as  a  pledge  of 
peace  between  Portugal  and  Castile,  was  offered  to 
king  Ferdinand,  but,  though  the  marriage  was  agreed 
on  in  March,  1371,  it  never  was  carried  into  effect,  the 
Portuguese  sovereign  that  very  year  acknowledging  his 
marriage  with  Dona  Leonor  de  Meneses,  though  that 
lady  was  already  the  wife  of  Don  Lorenzo  de  Acuna. 
Leonor  was  betrothed  two  years  after,  to  Don  Carlos 
III.  king  of  Navarre,  and  from  this  marriage  which 
took  place  in  1375,  was  born  the  princess  Blanche 


DOStA    JUANA    MANUEL    DE    VILLENA.  315 

who  inherited  Navarre   and  became  the  first  wife  of 
John  I.  of  Aragon. 

The  queen  witnessed  the  nuptials  of  both  her  chil- 
dren in  Soria.  Prince  Juan  marrying  the  infanta  of 
Aragon,  formerly  betrothed  to  him.  The  nuptials 
were  attended  by  nobles  of  the  three  kingdoms,  and 
celebrated  with  great  magnificence,  the  rejoicings 
lasting  during  all  the  month  of  May.  Though  the 
death  of  his  brother,  Don  Pedro,  seemed  to  ensure  him 
the  possession  of  the  throne  he  had  so  long  coveted,  the 
usurper  was  beset  with  difficulties.  The  Portuguese 
sovereign,  the  lawful  heir  of  the  crown  of  Castile,* 
still  asserted  his  claim,  and  though,  in  1373,  Henry 
had  retaliated  with  such  success  as  to  penetrate  as  far 
as  Lisbon,  it  was  neither  permanent  nor  advantageous. 
The  Pope  interposing  his  mediation,  that  year  obtained 
a  temporary  reconciliation,  but  the  treacherous  Portu- 
guese continued  to  annoy  the  Castilian  during  the 
whole  of  his  reign.  To  ensure  the  continuance  of 
peace  between  the  kingdoms,  a  double  matrimonial 
alliance  was  agreed  on.t  The  duke  of  Lancaster  also 

*  Ferdinand,  king  of  Portugal,  was  the  grandson  of  Beatrix, 
daughter  of  Sancho  the  Brave,  king  of  Castile,  who  had  married 
Alfonso  IV.,  king  of  Portugal. 

t  Sancho  de  Guzman,  brother  of  Henry,  married  Beatrix,  sister 
of  Ferdinand,  and  at  the  same  time  Alfonso,  an  illegitimate  son  of 
Henry,  by  Elvira  Inigues,  was  betrothed  to  Isabel,  an  illegitimate 
daughter  of  Ferdinand.  Alfonso,  being  exceedingly  adverse  to  the 
marriage,  in  1375  repaired  to  the  courts  of  France  and  Rome  to 
solicit  the  interference  of  the  King  and  Pope,  but  both  advising  him 
to  submit  tq  his  father's  will,  he  returned,  and  in  1378  was  married. 


316  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

urged  the  claims  of  his  wife  Constance,  and  though 
he  could  do  little  but  threaten  during  the  life  of  Hen- 
ry, the  latter  had  much  ado  to  avert  the  storm,  which 
he  was  only  enabled  to  do  by  the  assistance  of  his 
constant  friend,  the  king  of  France,  who  kept  the 
English  so  much  engaged  that  they  found  it  impossible 
to  carry  the  war  into  Castile.  The  marriage  of  his 
daughter  with  the  prince  of  Navarre  did  not  ensure 
peace  with  that  country,  hostilities  recommencing  in 
1378.  Charles  having  by  secret  treaties  engaged  to 
support  the  English  in  their  war  with  France,  the  ally 
of  Castile,  a  dispute  for  the  town  of  Logroiia  was  the 
pretence  made  use  of  for  breaking  with  Enrique,  but  the 
latter  was  successful,  as  he  recovered  several  places 
from  the  king  of  Navarre.  Enrique  died  on  the  29th 
of  May,  1379,  after  an  illness  of  twelve  days,  in  the 
forty-seventh  year  of  his  age,  and  was  interred  in  the 
chapel  constructed  by  his  orders  in  the  church  of  St. 
Mary,  in  Toledo.  Though  success  crowned  the  efforts 
of  this  usurper  of  the  crown  of  Castile,  his  character 
did  not  render  him  more  worthy  of  it  than  his  prede- 
cessor. Pedro  was  unfortunate,  and  his  evil  traits 
have  been  portrayed  in  their  worst  light,  while  the 
few  good  qualities  of  Enrique  have  been  dwelt  on  con 
amore  by  panegyrists  whom  that  prince's  liberality 
encouraged  and  rewarded.  His  numerous  illegitimate 
children  by  different  mistresses  prove  him  still  less 
scrupulous  on  that  point  than  Pedro,  and  his  conduct 
in  many  instances  shows  him  to  have  been  treacherous 


DOSfA    JUANA    MANUAL    DE    VILLENA.  317 

and  cruel.*  His  liberality  has  be.en  exceedingly  ex- 
tolled, and  it  is  undeniable  that  he  lavished  his  largesses 
without  stint,  to  ensure  the  success  of  his  schemes 
and  reward  his  partizans.  In  person,  he  was  below 
the  middle  height,  well  made,  with  a  fair  complexion 
and  brown  hair.  Juana  survived  her  husband  but  a 
short  time,  dying  March  27th,  1381.  She  was  interred 
by  the  side  of  her  husband,  in  the  dress  of  the  nuns  of 
the  order  of  St.  Glair,  which  she  had  worn  from  the 
period  of  the  death  of  Enrique. 

In  the  schism  which  divided  the  church,  arising 
from  the  rival  claims  of  Urban  VI.  and  the  anti-pope 
Clement  to  the  throne  of  St.  Peter,  Enrique  had  care- 
fully abstained  from  declaring  in  favor  of  either,  and 
the  difference  remaining  still  undecided  at  his  death, 
the  queen  in  her  last  illness  was  troubled  with  consci- 
entious scruples.  To  relieve  her  indecision,  she  dis- 
patched a  messenger  to  a  Portuguese  Franciscan  friar, 
who  was  said  to  be  endowed  with  the  spirit  of  proph- 

*  An  instance  of  Enrique's  perfidy  and  cruelty  is  exhibited  in  his 
treatment  of  Don  Martin  Lopez.  This  faithful  adherent  of  an 
unfortunate  master  had  heen  entrusted  with  the  care  of  Don  Pedro's 
children,  and  was  governor  of  the  town  of  Carmone,  which  he 
bravely  defended  against  the  usurper,  in  behalf  of  Don  Pedro's 
heirs,  after  the  death  of  that  sovereign,  in  1371.  A.fter  a  despe- 
rate resistance,  the  want  of  provisions  forcing  him  to  come  to 
terms,  Don  Martin  capitulated,  his  life  and  liberty  being  guaranteed 
by  the  king,  who  took  an  oath  to  that  effect  on  the  holy  gospels. 
No  sooner,  however,  had  Enrique  entered  the  place  than  he  sent 
the  governor  and  the  chancellor  of  the  late  king  to  Seville,  with 
orders  for  their  immediate  execution,  and  both  gentlemen  were  be- 
headed. 


318  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

ecy.  The  queen's  envoy  met  the  seer  in  Gruimaracus, 
and  without  waiting  to  be  interrogated,  the  latter  ad- 
dressed him  as  follows  :  "I  am  aware  of  thy  errand, 
and  by  whom  thou  wast  sent.  Know  that  the  illus- 
trious queen,  by  whose  orders  thou  hast  sought  me, 
is  now  no  more,  and  that  her  son,  following  evil  coun- 
sels, will  support  the  pretensions  of  Clement."  The 
soothsayer  had  doubtless  procured  information  from 
good  authority,  for  the  sequel  proved  the  truth  of  his 
assertions.  Juana  had  been  endowed  with  great  mu- 
nificence by  her  husband,  and  her  revenues  exceeded 
those  of  any  of  her  predecessors.  Aware  that  these 
extravagant  donations  might  prove  a  dangerous  prece- 
dent, Henry,  in  his  will,  counselled  his  son  against  being 
as  liberal  to  his  consort.  Juana  is  called  by  the 
chroniclers  a  most  pious,  charitable  and  noble  lady, 
but  nothing  is  said  of  her  personal  appearance. 


LEONOR    OF   ARAGON. 

1379. 

REIGN    OF   JUAN    I. 

THIS  lady,  whose  nuptials  with  the  Town  prince  of 
Castile,  on  the  eighteenth  of  June,  L  I,  have  been 
recorded  in  the  preceding  reign,  was  tt  daughter  of 
Pedro  IV.  king  of  Aragon,  and  of  his  thii  wife,  Leo- 
nor  of  Sicily.  The  dower  of  the  Aragonese  incess  was 


LEOSTOR    OF    ARAGON.  319 

80,000  florins.  Four  years  after  the  marriage,  on  tho 
death  of  Enrique,  in  1379,  Juan  and  Leonor  were  sol- 
emnly crowned  in  Las  Huelgas  de  Burgos,  and  on  tho 
fourth  of  October,  of  the  same  year,  the  queen  gave 
birth  to  her  first  child,  Enrique,  who  inherited  the  crown. 
On  the  twenty-seventh  of  November  of  the  following 
year,  was  born  her  second  son,  Ferdinand,  who  subse- 
quently ascended  the  throne  of  Aragon. 

The  birth  of  her  third  child,  a  daughter,  cost  the 
queen  her  life,  on  the  thirteenth  of  September,  1382. 
The  infant  was  named  Leonor,  after  its  mother,  whom 
it  survived  but  a  short  time.  The  piety  and  charity 
of  this  young  queen,  cut  off  in  the  flower  of  her  age, 
is  greatly  eulogised  by  several  authors,  and  it  is 
recorded  that  she  spent  all  her  income  in  deeds  of  be- 
nevolence. Her  religious  scruples  were  carried  to 
such  an  extreme  that  at  one  time,  though  greatly  in 
want  of  money,  she  positively  refused  to  accept  the 
voluntary  offer  of  a  large  donation  from  the  Jews  who 
inhabited  the  towns  that  formed  part  of  her  jointure, 
"lest  the  money  might  prove  cursed  and  the  donors  in 
their  hearts  c?'.rse  the  king  and  her  children" 

That  a  miracle  might  not  be  wanting  to  prove  the 
virtue  of  this  queen,  the  Chronicle  of  Santo  Domingo, 
records  the  following  one. 

The  king  having  conceived  some  injurious  thoughts 
of  his  consort,  was  visited  one  night,  while  on  his  way 
returning  from  Carrionciilo,  near  Medina  del  Campo, 
by  no  less  a  person  than  the  Apostle  St.  Andrew.  The 
celestial  visitant  reprimanding  the  king  for  his  suspi- 


320  THE    QUEENS    OK    SPAIN. 

cion  of  his  consort,  assured  him  it  had  been  totally 
unfounded,  she  being  a  perfect  model  of  chastity,  and 
every  other  virtue.  As  a  proof  of  his  assertion,  and 
that  no  doubt  might  remain  on  the  king's  mind  of  his 
own  miraculous  appearance,  the  saint  foretold  the 
birth  on  a  certain  day  of  the  infante  Fernando,  and  the 
event  verified  the  prediction.  The  apparition  was  so 
satisfactory  to  Juan,  that  from  that  time  he  never 
indulged  a  suspicion  of  his  queen's  fair  fame. 


DONA     BEATRIX. 

1383. 

(HEIRESS  OP  PORTUGAL.) 
REIGN  OF  JUAN  I. 

THIS  princess,  the  daughter  of  Fernando  I.  king  of 
Portugal,  by  his  queen  Leonor  de  Meneses,  before  her 
marriage  with  Juan,  had  been  successively  promised 
to  that  sovereign's  brother,*  to  his  two  sons,  and  to  the 
earl  of  Cambridge.  The  death  of  his  first  wife,  Leo- 
nor, leaving  the  king  of  Castile  a  widower  at  the  early 
age  of  twenty-four,  the  king  of  Portugal  proposed  that 
the  peace  between  Castile  and  Portugal  should  be 
cemented  by  the  marriage  of  his  daughter  with  the 

*  Don  Fadrique,  duke  of  Benavente,  son  of  Henry  II.  by  a  noble 
lady,  Dona  Beatrix  Ponce  de  Leon. 


pONA    BEATRIX.  321 

father  instead  of  the  son,  who  was  as  yet  but  an  infant, 
and  the  conditions  proving  very  satisfactory  to  Juan, 
the  nuptials  were  celebrated  at  Badajoz,  seventeenth 
May,  1383.  A  dispensation  had  previously  been  pro- 
cured from  the  pope,  as  the  parties  were  second  cous- 
ins. By-  the  marriage  contract,  Beatrix  being  the 
only  child  was  to  inherit  the  kingdom  of  Portugal,  the 
administration  of  which  was,  however,  to  be  left  after 
the  death  of  Ferdinand,  to  his  queen,  should  she  sur- 
vive him,  and  the  issue  of  Beatrix  and  Juan,  whether 
a  son  or  a  daughter  was  to  inherit  the  kingdom, 
and  bear  the  title  of  sovereign  from  the  age  of 
fourteen,  his  parents  from  that  period  ceasing  to  enti- 
tle themselves  king  and  queen  of  Portugal. 

Ferdinand  died  the  very  year  of  this  marriage,  and 
his  death  gave  occasion  for  a  renewal  of  the  war. 
Juan,  regardless  of  the  conditions  stipulated  in  the 
treaty,  immediately  entered  Portugal  at  the  head  of 
forces  to  sustain  his  claim.  Though  many  of  the 
nobles  admitted  the  justice  of  his  pretensions,  and  the 
queen  dowager  caused  her  daughter  to  be  proclaimed 
in  Lisbon,  the  majority  of  the  towns,  with  the  hatred 
of  the  Castilian  sway  that  has  ever  characterized  the 
Portuguese,  proclaimed  Don  Juan*  a  bastard  brother 
of  the  late  king,  regent  of  the  kingdom. 

The  duke  of  Lancaster  now  offered  his  aid  to  the 
new  regent,  and  concluded  an  alliance  with  him  by 
which  they  mutually  engaged  to  defend  each  other's 

*Not  the  youngest  son  of  Pedro  I.  and  Ines  de  Castro,  but 
another  illegitimate  son  of  that  monarch  by  a  lady  of  Galicia. 


322  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

claims,  and  overwhelm  the  Castilian  sovereign.  For- 
tune appeared  to  desert  Jflan  whose  army  met  every- 
where with  defeat,  and  though  his  mother-in-law  had 
declared  in  his  favor,  and  voluntarily  given  up  t<j 
him  the  administration,  she  was  so  strongly  suspected 
of  bad  faith,  that  he  caused  her  to  be  arrested  and 
conveyed  to  Castile. 

In  1385,  the  states  of  Coimbra  proclaimed  the 
regent  king ;  and  that  prince,  who  had  secured  the  co- 
operation of  the  English,  by  his  marriage  with  Phil- 
lippa,  the  daughter  of  the  duke  of  Cambridge,  showed 
himself  equal  to  the  task  of  defending  his  newly 
acquired  dignity.  Cool,  energetic,  courageous,  unscru- 
pulous, and  crafty,  he  successfully  foiled  all  the  plans  of 
his  young,  rash  and  inexperienced  rival.  A  great 
action  fought  between  10,000  men  on  the  side  of  the 
Portuguese,  and  30,000  on  that  of  the  Castilian, 
decided  the  contested  point  in  favor  of  the  former. 

This  battle  which  took  place  near  Albajarota  was 
won  by  the  Portuguese  in  consequence  of  the  strength 
of  the  position  in  which  they  had  entrenched  themselves, 
and  by  the  rashness  and  inferiority  of  tactics  of  the  Span- 
iards, who  confiding  in  their  numerical  superiority 
disdained  all  the  precautions  that  might  have  ensured 
them  success.  Two  thousand  French  knights  who 
fought  as  allies  of  the  Castilians  and  bore  the  brunt  of 
the  battle,  suffered  exceedingly.  The  loss  of  the  Cas- 
tilian arrny  was  enormous,  the  greater  part  of  the 
cavalry  and  10,000  of  the  infantry  remaining  on  the 
field  of  battle.  The  contest  was,  however,  continued 


DOHA    BEATRIX.  323 

for  some  time,  until  the  plague  breaking  out  in  the 
army  of  the  Portuguese  sovereign,  and  making  great 
ravages  among  the  English  allies,  overtures  of  peace 
were  made  by  the  duke  and  accepted  by  the  Castilian. 
The  conditions  of  this  treaty  which  was  concluded 
towards  the  close  of  1387,  were  that  Catharine,  daugh- 
ter of  the  duke,  by  his  wife  Constanza,  should  be 
betrothed  to  Henry,  son  of  Juan,  and  if  the  latter 
should  die  before  the  period  at  which  the  age  of  the 
parties  would  allow  of  the  marriage  being  celebrated, 
his  place  should  be  filled  by  his  brother  Ferdinand, 
that  prince  being  bound  to  remain  free  and  unengaged 
until  Henry  should  have  attained  his  fourteenth  year ; 
that  Constanza  herself,  (the  daughter  of  Pedro  the 
Cruel,)  should  receive  in  fief,  several  towns  in  Castile, 
and  a  revenue  of  40.000  francs  per  annum,  while  the 
duke  should  receive  600,000  in  gold  by  instalments,  to 
enable  him  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  war  ;  that 
both  Constanza  and  her  husband  should  renounce  all 
claim  to  the  throne  of  Castile,  and  that  sixty  men  of 
note  should  be  given  to  them  as  hostages  for  the  ful- 
filment of  the  three  first  conditions.  In  the  spring  of 
the  following  year,  the  betrothals  took  place,  the  bride 
being  in  her  fourteenth  year  and  the  bridegroom  in 
his  ninth.  These  conditions  were  extremely  onerous 
to  Castile,  impoverished  by  these  long  wars,  and  it 
was  exceedingly  difficult  to  raise  so  large  a  sum,  but 
on  the  other  hand  it  was  of  great  advantage  to  settle 
the  claims  of  the  daughter  of  Pedro,  as  these  preten- 
sions were  likely  to  prolong  the  war  for  an  indefinite 


324  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

period.  The  treaty  having  been  signed,  and  the  be- 
trothals solemnized,  Juan,  received  the  visit  of  his 
cousin,  Constance,  whom  he  entertained  in  Medina 
del  Campo,  in  November  of  that  year. 

In  token  of  amity  and  good  will,  besides  sundry  rich 
jewels,  the  king  presented  to  Constance  the  town  of 
Huete  and  its  revenues,  to  be  possessed  during  her  life, 
which  the  duchess  on  her  side  reciprocated  by  the  gift  of 
a  magnificent  gold  crown  studded  with  valuable  gems, 
which  she  had  brought  from  England  to  be  used  at  her 
own  coronation.  This  diadem  had  belonged  to  her 
father.  A  truce  was  also  agreed  on  with  the  king  of 
Portugal,  and  Castile  was  beginning  to  taste  the  bless- 
ings of  the  peace  it  so  much  needed,  when  the  pre- 
mature death  of  Juan  threatened  to  involve  the  kingdom 
in  the  evils  attending  the  minority  of  princes. 

At  the  period  of  the  conquest  of  Spain  by  the  Moors, 
a  small  number  of  Christians  had  passed  over  to  Africa 
and  obtained  permission  from  the  emperor  of  Morocco 
to  reside  in  his  dominions  and  retain  their  own  creed, 
customs  and  manners.  Of  these  Christians,  called  by 
the  Moors,  Farfanes,  fifty  cavaliers  had  been  invited  by 
Juan  to  settle  in  Castile,  and  as  an  inducement  he  had 
offered  to  endow  them  with  lands  sufficient  for  their 
honorable  maintenance.  The  offer  having  been  accept- 
ed, the  king,  on  their  arrival,  sallied  forth  to  receive 
them,  and  witness  the  equestrian  exercises  for  which 
they  were  celebrated.  Having  for  some  time  remained 
a  spectator  of  their  feats,  he  determined  to  join  them, 
being  himself  an  expert  horseman.  The  ground  over 


DOSfA    BEATRIX.  325 

which  he  had  to  pass  had  been  recently  ploughed,  and 
when  the  king  set  spurs  to  his  spirited  steed,  the 
animal  stumbled,  and  throwing  his  rider,  fell  heavily 
over  him.  When  his  attendants  extricated  the  sove- 
reign, it  was  found  that  life  was  extinct.  Such  was  the 
tragical  end  of  a  prince,  who,  if  he  did  not  exhibit 
great  abilities,  was  kind-hearted,  gentle,  willing  to 
take  advice,  and  tinctured  by  no  vices.  Liberal,  high- 
minded,  and  benevolent,  his  reign  is  stained  by  no 
bloody  deed  or  flagrant  act  of  injustice.  His  liberality 
and  courteous  conduct  to  the  king  of  Armenia,  whose 
liberty  he  obtained  from  the  Soldan  of  Egypt,  and  whom 
he  hospitably  entertained  and  largely  endowed,  consti- 
tute one  of  the  many  generous  acts  of  kindness  that 
this  prince  lavished  on  the  unfortunate. 

Juan  was  of  small  stature,  with  a  fair  complexion, 
and  brown  hair,  and  little  over  thirty-two  years  of 
age.  His  constitution  was  exceedingly  delicate,  and 
he  was  subject  to  several  infirmities.  His  tragical 
death,  which  occurred  on  the  9th  October,  1390, 
was  concealed  from  the  public  by  the  Archbishop  of 
Toledo  until  he  had  taken  measures  to  secure  the  suc- 
cession of  the  young  Enrique.  A  tent  was  pitched 
on  the  spot,  and  the  body  deposited  in  it  attended  by 
leeches,  while  messengers  were  dispatched  to  the 
queen  informing  her  of  the  real  nature  of  the  catastro- 
phe, and  to  the  cities,  towns,  lords,  prelates  and  gen- 
tlemen, with  tidings  that  the  king  was  very  ill,  and 
reminding  them  of  their  oath  of  allegiance  to  his  heir, 
should  the  event  prove  fatal.  This  done,  the  body 


326  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

was  conveyed  to  a  chapel  belonging  to  the  Archbishop 
in  Alcala  de  Henares,  whither  the  queen  immediately 
repaired,  overwhelmed  with  grief.  The  corpse,  at- 
tended by  the  queen  and  many  nobles,  was  then  re- 
moved to  Toledo,  where  it  was  interred  in  the  Church 
of  St.  Mary.  Though  thus  early  left  a  widow,  Beatrix 
never  would  consent  to  a  second  marriage.  She  re- 
ceived many  offers ;  among  others,  one  from  the  Duke 
of  Austria,  as  late  as  the  year  1409,  after  she  had 
been  eighteen  years  a  widow,  during  which  time  she 
resided  on  her  own  domains,  where  she  continued  until 
her  death. 

Juan,  in  his  will,  dated  June  21st.,  1385,  left  his 
consort  three  hundred  thousand  maravedis  a  year, 
which  she  was  to  have  in  addition  to  the  revenues  of 
the  towns  and  villages  belonging  to  her,  that  she  might 
"  be  enabled  honorably  to  maintain  her  state."  The 
royal  testator  laid  his  injunctions  on  Prince  Enrique, 
her  step-son,  to  honor  and  respect  her  as  his  mother, 
pay  her  the  revenues  assigned  her,  and  demand  from 
her  no  account  of  the  jewels,  crowns,  diadems,  and 
precious  stones,  he  had  bestowed  on  her.  Henry 
obeyed  these  commands  to  the  letter,  and  in  his  own 
will,  orders  that  his  "  mother,  the  queen  Dona  Beatrix, 
continue  to  receive  her  yearly  allowance." 

The  date  of  the  death  of   Beatrix  is  not  recorded. 


CATHARINE  OF  LANCASTER.  327 

CATHARINE  OF  LANCASTER. 

(aUEEN     CONSORT.) 

1390. 

(aUEEN     REGENT.) 

1407. 

REIGN    OF    HENRY    III.,  THE    INFIRM. 

THE  betrothals  of  Catharine,  daughter  of  John  of 
Graunt,  duke  of  Lancaster,  and  Constance  of  Castile, 
with  the  young  heir  of  the  throne  of  Castile,  have 
been  recorded  in  the  annals  of  the  preceding  reign. 
On  the  occasion  of  this  happy  union,  that  put  an  end 
to  the  war  that  for  so  long  a  time  had  desolated  Cas- 
tile, Henry  and  his  bride  were  created  prince  and 
princess  of  Asturias,  this  being  the  first  time  that  the 
titles  of  prince  and  princess  were  used  in  Spain. 

The  tragical  death  of  Juan,  in  1390,  calling  Henry 
to  the  throne  at  the  early  age  of  eleven,  occasioned 
the  dissensions  incidental  to  the  minority  of  princes, 
and  many  were  the  disputes  that  took  place  ere  it  was 
decided  what  form  of  government  should  be  adopted, 
until  the  king  should  attain  his  majority.  After  seve- 
ral changes  in  1392,  the  Cortes  at  Burgos  decreed  that 
twelve  governors  should  be  chosen,  six  of  which  should 
exercise  the  authority  delegated  to  them  during  half 
the  year,  and  the  other  six  during  the  remaining  six 
months.  After  some  demurring  and  altercation  as  to 


328  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

who  should  have  the  priority,  the  affair  was  settled. 
Though  there  were  not  wanting  disaffected  spirits, 
among  whom  Fadrique,  Duke  of  Benavente  played  an 
important  part,  and  created  some  disturbance,  it  was 
finally  appeased  without  any  effusion  of  blood,  and 
the  truces  with  the  kings  of  Granada  and  Aragon 
having  been  renewed,  the  peace  of  the  kingdom  con- 
tinued unbroken. 

The  most  important  event  that  occurred  during  this 
minority,  was  the  rising  of  the  people  in  many  large 
towns  against  the  Jews,  who  were  the  agents  and  re- 
ceivers of  the  royal  revenues,  and  contributions  from 
the  towns.  Their  rapacity  having  irritated  the  popu- 
lace who  were  moreover  incited  by  the  preaching  of  a 
fanatical  archdeacon  of  Ecija,  of  whom  one  of  the 
Spanish  writers  says,  "he  was  one,  more  holy  than 
wise,"  they  had  well  nigh  exterminated  the  race. 
Many  were  massacred,  numbers  to  save  themselves 
becams  Christians,  while  others,  to  save  themselves 
and  part  of  their  property,  were  obliged  to  have  re- 
course to  the  protection  of  some  high  lord,  of  whom 
they  purchased  their  safety  at  so  enormous  a  rate  as 
to  reduce  themselves  to  poverty. 

In  1393,  Henry  having  attained  the  age  of  fourteen 
assumed  the  administration,  and  put  an  end  to  the 
regency.  Though  of  so  delicate  a  constitution  as  to 
cause  him  to  be  surnamed  the  Infirm,  the  king  lacked 
neither  energy  nor  firmness,  but  the  evils  he  had  to 
correct  were  too  deeply  rooted  to  be  easily  eradicated, 
and  his  reign  was  too  short  to  enable  him  to  effect 


CATHARINE    OF    LANCASTER.  329 

any  lasting  good.  His  uncles,  Fadrique,  Duke  of 
Benavente,  and  Alfonso,  Count  of  G-ijon,  continued  for 
some  time  to  disturb  the  public  peace,  and  the  king's 
liberality  and  moderation  towards  them  alone  pre- 
vented them  from  breaking  out  into  open  rebellion. 

During  his  short  career,  Enrique  won  the  love  of  the 
nation  by  his  2eal  for  the  public  weal  He  caused 
many  excellent  laws  and  regulations  to  be  enacted  for 
the  better  and  more  impartial  administration  of  justice 
and  restraining  the  rapacity  and  extortions  of  the  rev- 
enue officers.  Unfortunately  for  the  nation,  he  was, 
while  preparing  on  the  frontiers  to  war  with  the  Moors 
of  Granada,  attacked  by  a  disease  which,  having  no 
strength  of  constitution  to  resist  it,  carried  him  off  on 
the  twenty-sixth  December,  1406. 

Of  the  queen  little  is  recorded  during  the  life  of 
Enrique,  but  after  his  death,  she  was  called  to  play  an 
important  part  as  co-regent  of  the  kingdom,  and  guar- 
dian of  her  son  Juan,  who  at  the  time  of  his  father's 
death  had  not  attained  his  second  year.  Catherine, 
during  the  first  eight  years  of  her  marriage  had  been 
childless.  At  the  end  of  this  period  she  gave  birth  to 
the  infanta  Maria,  proclaimed  heiress  to  the  crown,  of 
which  the  subsequent  birth  of  a  brother  deprived  her. 
This  princess,  who  was  born  in  Segovia,  November  14, 
1401,  married  Alfonso  V.  king  of  Aragon,  her  cousin. 
(Vide  annals  of  the  queens  of  Aragon.)  The  second 
child  of  Catherine,  the  date  of  whose  birth  is  not  re- 
corded, was  also  a  daughter,  Catherine,  who  married 
her  cousin,  Don  Enrique,  brother  of  Alfonso  of  Aragon. 


330  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

Several  years  had  elapsed  since  the  birth  of  the  two 
infantas,  and  all  hopes  of  a  male  heir  to  the  crown 
had  ceased,  the  king's  health  becoming  daily  more 
delicate,  while  the  queen  had  grown  exceedingly  corpu- 
lent, when  she  at  length  gave  birth  to  a  son,  on  the 
sixth  March,  1405,  in  the  town  of  Toro.  The  joy  of 
both  parents  was  excessive,  but  especially  that  of  the 
queen,  who  immediately  caused  letters  to  be  written 
in  her  name,  to  all  the  chief  towns  of  the  kingdom, 
imparting  the  tidings  and  ordering  the  customary  re- 
joicings on  the  occasion.  On  the  twelfth  of  May  of 
the  same  year,  the  prince  was  sworn  to  as  heir  with 
extraordinary  pomp. 

Though  deprived  of  his  father  at  so  early  an  age, 
the  loss  did  not  affect  the  interests  of  the  infant  king, 
being  supplied,  fortunately  for  himself  and  the  nation 
by  an  uncle  whose  zeal  for  the  interests  of  both  prince 
and  people  could  only  be  equalled  by  his  ability.  To 
the  prudence,  forbearance,  judgment  and  military  zeal 
of  the  infante  Ferdinand,  Castile  was  indebted  for  the 
comparative  quiet  and  prosperity  she  enjoyed  during 
the  first  nine  years  of  the  minority  of  a  prince  whose 
subsequent  reign  was  to  prove  so  disastrous.  The 
late  king's  will  named  his  brother  Ferdinand,  and  his 
consort,  queen  Catherine,  co-regents  of  the  kingdom, 
and  guardians  of  his  children,  and  the  choice  met  the 
approval  of  the  nation.  There  were  not  wanting 
restless,  disaffected  spirits  to  whom  any  change  was  a 
relief  from  the  monotony  of  order  and  quiet,  and  who 
sought  to  induce  the  infante  to  place  on  his  own  head 


CATHERINE       F    LANCASTER.  831 

the  crown  of  his  nephew,  but  he  turned  a  deaf  ear  to 
all  proposals  of  that  nature,  and  gave  all  his  attention 
to  consolidating  the  throne  he  might  easily  have 
usurped.  Had  the  queen  shown  equal  good  sense - 
and  firmness,  both  would  have  been  spared  many  petty 
vexations,  but  unfortunately,  Catherine  with  the  best 
intentions  often  acted  with  strange  inconsistency,  from 
her  too  easy  compliance  with  the  suggestions  of  those 
to  whom  she  became  attached. 

On  the  death  of  Henry,  the  most  friendly  messages 
were  exchanged  between  his  widow  and  his  brother, 
the  former  professing  herself,  in  her  affliction,  fortunate 
that  heaven  should  have  left  her  the  support  of  one 
whom  henceforth  she  would  hold  in  the  light  of  a 
brother,  son  and  dear 'friend,  and  Ferdinand  replying 
in  terms  of  great  amity  and  respect.  The  only  clause 
of  the  late  king's  will  to  which  the  queen  objected, 
was  one  by  which  two  nobles,  Juan  de  Velasco  and 
Diego  Lopez  Destuniga,  were  named  as  tutors  of  the 
young  king,  and  who  were  to  have  the  charge  of  his 
person.  To  this  Catherine  was  exceedingly  opposed, 
saying  that  she,  who  had  given  birth  to  the  prince, 
was  the  best  entitled  to  have  the  care  of  him.  After 
some  debate,  the  queen  obtained  her  wish,  the  appoint- 
ed tutors  agreeing  to  relinquish  their  claims,  and 
receive  as  a  compensation  for  the  honor  and  emolu- 
ments of  the  post,  12,000  florins  from  the  queen,  who 
thought  she  could  not  purchase  too  dearly  the  privilege 
of  keeping  her  son  under  her  own  charge.  This  point 
settled,  the  regents  took  the  customary  oaths,  binding 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

themselves  to  maintain  the  kingdom  undivided,  to 
keep  and  respect  the  fueros  and  privileges  of  the  peo- 
ple, to  guard  the  king's  person  from  harm,  and  to 
protect  his  interests,  governing  with  justice  and  equity, 
and  ordering  all  things  to  his  honor  and  glory,  until 
he  should  have  attained  his  fourteenth  year. 

Matters  went  on  smoothly  for  but  a  short  space  of 
time.  Catherine,  with  the  royal  infante  had  taken 
up  her  residence  in  the  Alcazar  of  Segovia,  attended 
by  a  numerous  suite  of  noble  dames  and  gentlemen, 
the  chief  of  whom  were  Gromez  Carillo  de  Cuenca 
charged  with  the  young  king's  education,  Alfonso 
Gfarcia  de  Cuollar,  his  treasurer  and  alcalde  of  the 
royal  residence,  Leonor,  daughter  of  the  duke  of  Ben- 
avente  and  wife  of  the  Adelantado,  Pero  Manriquez, 
the  countess  his  wife,  and  many  others  of  high  station. 
Of  all  the  noble  ladies  in  attendance  on  Catherine, 
none  had  attained  the  degree  of  favor  enjoyed  by 
Leonor  Lopez,  daughter  of  Don  Martin  Lopez,  who  in 
the  reign  of  Pedro  had  been  master  of  the  order  of 
Alcantara.  This  lady  had  ingratiated  herself  with 
Catherine,  and  acquired  so  unbounded  an  influence 
over  her,  that  if  her  royal  mistress  gave  an  order,  or 
took  a  resolution,  without  previously  consulting  the 
favorite,  and  obtaining  her  sanction,  the  latter  inso- 
lently countermanded  it.  Thus  the  well-concerted 
measures  of  the  infante  Fernando  frequently  met  a 
check  in  their  execution,  from  the  unrestrained  author- 
ity of  the  minion,  and  the  consequence  was  that  the 
union  between  the  regents — a  union  so  necessary  to 


CATHERINE  OF  LANCASTER.  333 

the  proper  administration  of  affairs — seemed  in  danger 
of  being  materially  impaired  by  the  intrigues  of  the 
meddling  favorite,  who  even  endeavored  to  create  ill 
feeling  between  the  queen  and  her  brother-in-law,  by 
instilling  into  the  mind  of  her  credulous  tool,  suspi- 
cions of  his  ulterior  plans. 

Ferdinand  was  at  this  time  preparing  for  war  with 
the  Moors  of  Granada,  and  though  his  annoyance  was 
great  at  finding  his  efforts  for  the  public  good  frequently 
foiled  by  the  impertinent  and  ill-judged  interference  of 
Leonor,  he  never  allowed  his  temper  to  be  irritated  so 
far  as  to  come  to  an  open  rupture  with  the  queen,  though 
a  coolness  ensued,  which  would  have  proved  dangerous 
to  the  welfare  of  all,  had  not  the  council,  foreseeing  the 
evils  that  would  ensue  from  its  continuation,  expostu- 
lated with  the  queen>  and,  having  convinced  her  of 
her  error,  obtained  the  exile  from  court  of  Dona  Leonor. 
The  success  of  this  timely  interposition,  proves  Cathe- 
rine to  have  been  open  to  conviction,  and  though  weak, 
not  obstinate.  Having  thus  thwarted  the  views 
of  the  interested  sycophants  who  had  endeavored  to 
embroil  him  with  the  queen,  Fernando  pursued  with 
vigor  the  war  with  the  Moors,  obtaining  signal  advan- 
tages and  taking  many  places  from  them.  In  the 
division  the  regents  had  made  of  the  administration, 
according  to  the  clause  to  that  effect  in  the  late  king's 
will,  the  infante  had  the  provinces  of  the  seat  of  war, 
and  remained  in  Andalusia,  from  April  of  1407  until 
the  spring  of  the  year  1408,  when  he  rejoined  the 
court  assembled  in  Guadalajara,  to  concert  measures 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

for  the  continuation  of  the  war.  During  this  year,  a 
truce  of  eight  months  was  granted  to  the  king  of  Gra- 
nada, at  his  earnest  solicitation. 

In  the  following  year  the  betrothals  of  the  infanta 
Maria,  the  king's  eldest  sister,  with  Alfonso,  eldest 
son  of  the  infante  Fernando,  were  celebrated,  in  com- 
pliance with  the  will  of  the  late  king.  In  February 
of  1410,  the  infante  again  renewed  the  war  with  the 
Moors,  which  he  prosecuted  with  such  success  that  in 
1411  he  crowned  himself  with  laurels,  by  the  con- 
quest of  Antequera.  Having  stopped  at  Seville  on  his 
return,  he  made  a  triumphant  entrance,  on  the  four- 
teenth of  October,  and  from  thence  proceeding  to  Yalla- 
dolid,  he  was  warmly  received  by  the  queen,  who  in 
presence  of  the  court,  honored  him  with  an  embrace, 
and  the  kiss  of  peace,  as  the  king  had  done  before  her. 
Dona  Leonor  Lopez,  whose  ambitious  spirit  could  ill 
abide  her  exile,  in  1412,  wrote  to  the  infante,  entreat- 
ing the  intercession  of  the  one  against  whom  she  had 
used  her  arts  when  in  power,  that  she  might  again  be 
received  in  the  queen's  service  and  good  graces. 

To  this  the  infante,  though  he  had  weighty  reasons 
for  disliking  the  lady,  returned  a  kind  answer,  purport- 
ing that  she  should  come  to  Cuenca,  and  consult  with 
him  what  it  was  best  to  do.  Catherine,  being  advised 
that  her  quondam  favorite  was  on  her  way  from  Cor- 
dova to  Cuenca  to  see  Don  Fernando,  immediately 
wrote  to  the  latter,  requesting  he  would  send  her  back 
the  instant  she  arrived,  and  that  if  she  dared  venture 
to  appear  in  her  presence,  she  would  have  her  burnt. 


CATHERINE  OF  LANCASTER  335 

The  virulence  of  the  queen's  hatred  towards  her  once 
loved  attendant  was  in  proportion  to  the  love  she  had 
formerly  borne  her,  and  proves  her  to  have  lacked  a 
well-balanced  mind,  and  have  been  prone  to  carry  all 
things  to  extremes.  Leonor,  on  arriving  at  Cuenca, 
was  shown  the  queen's  letter,  and  her  disappointment 
and  fright  were  so  excessive  that  she  had  well-nigh  sunk 
under  the  blow.  Ferdinand  treated  her  kindly,  and 
after  administering  such  consolation  as  he  could  with- 
out feeding  hopes  which  would  have  been  utterly 
without  foundation,  advised  her  to  return  immediately 
to  Cordova,  and  avoid  adding,  by  a  dangerous  persis- 
tence, to  the  queen's  anger.  Dona  Leonor  had  no 
sooner  put  in  practice  this  wise  advice  than  the  queen 
deprived  her  relatives  of  the  offices  they  held  in  her 
household,  and  in  that  of  the  king  her  son.  Not  sat- 
isfied with  this,  Catherine  dismissed  from  her  service 
all  those  who  were  indebted  to  Leonor  for  their  places. 
The  king  of  Aragon,  Don  Martin,  having  died  with- 
out leaving  any  male  issue,  after  a  short  interregnum, 
his  nephew,  Ferdinand,  was  declared  the  next  of  kin, 
in  the  male  line,  and  heir  to  the  crown.  (Vide  life  of 
Dona  Leonor  de  Alburquerque,  queen  of  Aragon.)  In 
1412  the  new  king  passed  over  into  Ajagon,  having 
previously  named  a  council  to  continue  his  duties  as 
co-regent  of  Castile.  As  long  as  the  life  of  this  truly 
able  and  prudent  sovereign  lasted,  his  influence  seemed 
to  direct  the  councils  of  Castile,  and  maintain  peace 
and  prosperity,  but  with  his  death,  in  1416,  the  civil 
broils  again  broke  out.  The  friendship  between  Cath- 


336  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

erine  and  her  brother-in-law,  however,  suffered  no 
dimunition  after  the  accession  of  the  latter  to  the 
throne  of  Aragon,  and,  far  from  showing  the  slightest 
jealousy  of  his  elevation,  she  rejoiced  most  sincerely  in 
it,  and  proved  her  good  feeling  by  sending  him  a  mag- 
nificent crown  to  be  used  at  his  coronation.  This 
diadem  was  the  same  worn  by  King  Juan  I.,  his  father, 
at  his  coronation. 

Having  been  advised  that  the  count  of  Urgel  was 
preparing  to  dispute  Ferdinand's  claim  to  the  crown  of 
Aragon,  Catherine,  unsolicited,  sent  four  hundred  lan- 
ces to  her  brother-in-law's  assistance,  and  a  message 
purporting  that  if  he  required  still  farther  aid,  she 
would  come,  with  her  son,  at  the  head  of  all  the  forces 
she  could  command,  and  rather  than  he  should  fail  in 
asserting  his  rights,  would  sell  her  jewels.  These 
tokens  of  amity  were  very  satisfactory  to  Ferdinand, 
though  circumstances  rendered  the  proffered  aid 
unnecessary. 

On  the  death  of  Ferdinand  in  1416,  the  regency 
devolved  entirely  on  Catherine,  (as  stipulated  in  the 
will  of  Enrique,)  but  Don  Juan  de  Velasco  and  Don 
Diego  Lopez  de  Zuniga  took  advantage  of  it  to  renew 
their  claims  to  the  tutorship  of  the  young  king.  The 
Archbishop  of  Toledo,  Don  Sancho  de  Rojas,  however, 
presented  the  matter  in  such  a  light  to  Catherine,  that 
she  agreed  to  deliver  the  king's  person  to  the  claimants 
in  order  that,  as  she  said,  she  might  never  have  to  re- 
proach herself  with  leaving  unfulfilled  any  clause  of 
the  late  king's  will.  The  two  nobles,  satisfied  with 


CATHERINE  OF  LANCASTER.  337 

the  queen's  ready  compliance,  and  pleased  with  the 
confidence  reposed  in  them,  declined  accepting  the 
honor,  leaving  him  tinder  her  charge,  merely  adding 
to  his  attendants  guards  of  their  own  selection. 

The  factions  that  had  arisen  in  Castile  on  the  death 
of  Ferdinand,  soon  extended  their  ramifications  through- 
out the  kingdom,  and  the  last  two  years  of  the  life  of 
Catherine  were  harrassed  by  the  intrigues,  complaints, 
and  quarrels  of  the  turbulent  nobles.  Her  own  death, 
which  took  place  June  2d,  1418,  removing  all  restraint, 
left  Castile  a  prey  to  the  anarchy  and  disorder  that 
distracted  it  during  all  the  unhappy  reign  of  her  weak 
son.  Catherine  was  deeply  regretted,  for,  though  not 
possessed  of  great  abilities  or  brilliant  talents,  she  had 
a  kind  heart,  and  the  errors  into  which  she  fell 
proceeded  ever  from  want  of  judgment,  and  too  ready 
a  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  those  by  whom  she 
was  surrounded.  Her  temper  was  even  and  her 
manners  kind  and  affable. 

Catherine  was  tall  and  handsome,  and  in  youth, 
though  stout,  her  figure  was  good  and  her  carriage 
graceful,  but  as  she  advanced  in  years,  she  became 
exceedingly  corpulent.  Unlike  the  generality  of  Span- 
ish sovereigns,  who  are  noted  for  their  sobriety,  Cathe- 
rine was  addicted  to  excesses  in  eating,  and  even 
drinking,  which  doubtless  hastened  her  end.  She  died 
of  a  paralytic  stroke,  and  was  interred  in  the  royal 
chapel  of  Toledo.  The  qualities  of  the  head  are,  how- 
ever, more  necessary  to  a  sovereign  than  those  of  the 
heart,  and  the  character  of  Catherine  has  been  treated 


338  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

with  little  leniency  by  the  majority  of  historians,  who 
ascribe  to  her  jealous  and  narrow-minded  policy  the 
weak,  uncultivated  intellect  of  her  son.  Enrique  III. 
testified  his  want  of  confidence  in  her  abilities,  by  the 
clause  in  his  will,  in  which  he  expressly  desired  his 
son  should  be  placed  under  the  care  of  those  therein 
designated,  and  who  were  men  fully  equal  to  the  task 
of  educating  the  heir  to  the  crown.  Catherine,  how- 
ever, expressed  so  much  repugnance  to  giving  up  her 
child  to  the  guardians,  and  it  seemed  so  cruel  to  de- 
prive a  mother  of  this  source  of  gratification,  that, 
unfortunately  for  the  prince  and  the  nation,  the  in- 
fante  Fernando  seconded  her  wishes,  and  they  were 
complied  with.  Of  a  suspicious  temper,  Catherine 
was  always  tormented  by  fears  that  her  son  would 
be  taken  from  her,  and  with  this  idea  she  kept  him 
immured  within  the  palace  walls,  neglecting  his  edu- 
cation, and  preventing  those  whose  advice  and  pre- 
cepts would  have  strengthened  and  improved  his  mind, 
from  having  access  to  the  secluded  youth. 

Thus  Juan  grew  up  amid  the  puerilities  and  idle 
pastimes  of  an  effeminate  court,  in  complete  ignorance 
of  the  high  duties  that  awaited  him,  and  having  im- 
bibed from  his  mother  that  pernicious  weakness  which 
made  him  the  tool  of  the  parasites  by  whom  he  was 
surrounded.  When,  at  her  death,  he  was  brought  out, 
and  made  to  exhibit  himself  to  the  people,  it  seemed 
like  a  second  birth,  so  ignorant  was  he  of  the  world 
beyond  the  palace  gates. 

Much  of  Catherine's  popularity  was  due  to  her  being 


DOSfA    MARIA    OF    A R AGON.  339 

the  granddaughter  of  Pedro.  Many,  especially  among 
the  middle  and  lower  classes,  regarding  the  memory 
of  this  unfortunate  monarch,  with  peculiar  veneration, 
considered  his  descendant  the  legitimate  heiress  of  the 
crown  of  Castile.  The  English  blood  of  John  of  Gaunt 
predominated,  however,  in  Catherine,  whose  fair  hair, 
blonde  complexion  and  stout  figure,  betokened  her 
paternal  origin,  and  northern  birthplace,  while  her  tastes 
and  inclinations  essentially  differed  from  those  of  her 
royal  grandfather,  noted  like  the  generality  of  the 
Spanish  sovereigns  for  his  sobriety. 


DONA  MARIA  OF  ARAGON. 

1419. 

REIGN  OF  JUAN  II. 

ON  the  death  of  Catherine,  the  king  of  Portugal, 
Juan  I.  endeavored  to  negotiate  the  marriage  of  his 
daughter  Leonor  with  the  young  king  of  Castile,  then 
thirteen  years  of  age,  but  he  encountered  an  unsur- 
mountable  barrier  to  his  project,  in  Don  Sancho  de 
Rojas,  the  archbishop  of  Toledo.  This  prelate,  who 
was  indebted  for  his  elevation  to  the  infante  Fernando, 
was  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  royal  house  of  Ara- 
gon,  and  employed  the  power  and  influence  he  had 


340  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPA.N. 

acquired  under  Catherine,  to  place  a  daughter  of  that, 
prince  on  the  Castilian  throne.  Several  of  the  high 
barons,  jealous  of  the  favor  enjoyed  by  the  archbishop, 
endeavored  to  frustrate  his  schemes,  favoring  the  alli- 
ance with  Portugal,  but  Don  Sancho  being  backed  by 
the  dowager  queen  of  Aragon  and  her  sons,  who,  en- 
dowed with  vast  domains  in  Castile,  the  land  of  their 
birth,  possessed  great  influence  in  that  court,  was  suc- 
cessful, and  on  the  20th  October,  1418,  Maria,  daugh- 
ter of  Ferdinand  I.,  king  of  Aragon,  and  of  Dona 
Leonor  de  Alburquerque,  was  led  to  the  altar  by  the 
young  king.  The  parties  were  first  cousins,  but  dis- 
pensations had  then  become  so  common,  that  no 
scruples  were  entertained  on  that  score.  The  nuptials 
graced  by  the  presence  of  the  dowager  queen  of  Ara- 
gon, her  sons,  the  infantes  Juan,  Enrique  and  Pedro, 
together  with  the  principal  nobles  of  Castile,  and  many 
from  Aragon,  were  celebrated  with  the  greatest  mag- 
nificence, and  the  festivities  usual  on  such  occasions 
in  Medina  del  Campo. 

The  court  then  removing  to  Madrid,  the  Cortes  was 
summoned,  and  in  the  spring  of  the  following  year, 
Juan  having  attained  his  majority,  was  solemnly  en- 
trusted with  the  government. 

On  the  7th  March,  1419,  began  the  disastrous  reign 
of  the  hitherto  nominal  king,  Juan  IT.,  or  rather  that 
of  his  favorites.  Of  these  the  most  conspicuous,  not 
only  for  the  important  part  he  enacted,  but  for  his 
brilliant  accomplishments,  his  extraordinary  rise  and 


DOSfA    MARIA    OF    ARAGON.  341 

sudden  fall,  was  Don  Alvaro  de  Luna.  This  remarka- 
ble man,  who,  from  a  state  of  obscurity  and  compari- 
tive  insignificance,  rose  to  the  height  of  power,  con- 
trolled during  upwards  of  thirty  years,  the  destinies  of 
Castile,  and  was  in  reality  the  real  occupant  of  a  throne 
from  which  he  descended  to  lay  his  head  on  the  block — 
this  minion  of  fortune,  who,  in  his  elevation  and  fall, 
as  well  as  in  many  points  of  character,  resembled  the 
no  less  celebrated  Cardinal  Wolsey,  was  the  son  of 
Don  Alvaro  de  Luna,  Lord  of  Canete  Jubero  and 
Cornado,  and  cupbearer  of  Enrique  III.,  by  a  com- 
mon courtesan  of  the  name  of  Maria  Canete.  The 
subsequent  disreputable  conduct  of  the  mother  causing 
Don  Alvaro  to  doubt  whether  the  child  was  his,  he 
refused  for  some  time  to  acknowledge  him.  Being 
unmarried,  he  converted  his  possessions  into  ready 
money,  leading  a  gay  life  without  thinking  of  making 
any  provision  for  his  son,  whose  life  would  have 
been  spent,  in  all  probability,  struggling  with  the 
evils  attending  penury,  had  not  this  fate  been 
averted  by  a  faithful  squire  to  whose  care  he  had  been 
confided.  This  man,  whose  name  was  Juan  de  Olio, 
having  expostulated  with  Don  Alvaro,  to  whom  he 
represented  the  injustice  he  was  doing  the  boy  he  knew 
to  be  his  own,  persuaded  the  then  dying  noble  to  leave 
him  a  sum  of  eight  hundred  florins,  the  residue  of  the 
proceeds  of  the  sale  of  his-  patrimony.  Juan  de  Olio 
then  conducted  his  young  charge  to  Rome,  where  the 
boy  was  confirmed  by  Pope  Benedict,  who  changed  his 


342  THE    QUEENS    :F    SPAIN. 

name  from  Pedro  to  that  of  his  father.  Here  he  re- 
mained from  the  age  of  seven  to  that  of  eighteen,  when 
his  uncle,  Don  Pedro  de  Luna,  the  archbishop,  brought 
him  back  to  Spain,  and  obtained  a  place  for  him  as 
gentleman  of  the  bed-chamber  or  page  to  the  young 
king,  in  1408.  Educated  in  all  the  refinement  of  the 
court  of  Rome,  skilled  in  all  the  mental  and  bodily 
accomplishments  of  that  day,  the  best  horseman,  most 
adroit  swordsman,  most  elegant  dancer,  in  his  own 
country,  a  poet  and  a  musician,  endowed  by  nature 
with  a  good  voice  and  possessing  amiable  manners  and 
an  insinuating  address,  Don  Alvaro  could  not  fail  to 
attract  notice  at  court,  and  by  the  time  the  sovereign 
had  attained  his  majority  had  so  completely  won  his 
favor,  that  Juan  could  do  nothing  without  his  advice 
and  consent. 

Nor  was  Don  Alvaro  less  fortunate  in  ingratiating 
himself  with  the  ladies,  and  the  favors  they  lavished 
on  him,  though  highly  gratifying  to  his  vanity,  at  times 
placed  the  recipient  in  rather  embarrassing  situations. 
From  a  dilemma  of  this  nature  that  occurred  during 
the  regency  of  Queen  Catherine,  his  firmness  and 
decision  with  difficulty  extricated  him.  Among  the 
ladies  who  appeared  most  charmed  with  the  grace  and 
gallant  bearing  of  the  king's  favorite  page,  was  Dona 
Ines  de  Torres,  one  of  the  queen's  attendants,  and  so 
unguarded  was  she  in  her  tokens  of  regard  that  she 
roused  the  jealousy  of  her  intended,  Don  Juan  Alvarez 
de  Osorio,  one  of  the  most  influential  nobles  in  Castile. 


D03?A    MARIA    OF    ARAGON.  343 

The  irritated  lover  carried  his  complaints  to  the  queen 
and  succeeded  in  enlisting  her  sympathy.  He  had, 
moreover,  the  art  to  persuade  her  that  the  attentions  of 
Don  Alvaro  had  won  the  heart,  and  affected  the  repu- 
tation of  Dona  Constanza  Barba,  another  lady  of  the 
royal  household,  attached  to  the  service  of  the  infanta 
Catalina.  The  queen  mother,  anxious  to  sustain  the 
dignity  of  her  household,  which  she  deemed  sorely 
compromised  by  such  levities,  sent  for  the  culprit,  and 
without  consulting  his  inclinations  intimated  that  it 
was  her  pleasure  he  should  then  and  there  prepare  to 
marry  Dona  Constanza,  who  was  preparing  in  the 
inner  apartment  for  the  ceremony.  But  young  as  he 
was,  the  minister  in  embryo  had  already  higher  views 
and  was  not  to  be  thus  entrapped.  Resolutely  decli- 
ning to  comply  with  the  queen's  peremptory  command, 
he  instantly  withdrew  to  his  own  quarters,  refusing  to 
return  until  the  queen  should  give  up  her  matrimonial 
project.  His  presence  was  too  necessary  to  the  young 
sovereign  to  allow  of  his  being  long  an  exile  from  the 
palace,  and  Catherine  was  forced  to  aoceed  to  her  son's 
wishes  and  recall  his  favorite  companion,  at  the  sacrifice 
of  her  own  pride. 

Nor  did  his  refusal  to  allow  himself  to  be  victimised 
injure  him  with  the  ladies,  who  seemed,  on  the  contrary, 
greatly  pleased  that  he  should  have  preserved  a  free- 
dom that  left  hopes  to  all. 

While  ho  possessed  all  the  lighter  qualities  of  the 
finished  cavalier,  Don  Alvaro  lacked  none  of  the  more 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

solid  ones  that  befit  the  statesman.  A  profound  dis- 
sembler, while  he  carefully  veiled  his  own  intentions, 
he  was  gifted  with  the  art  of  eliciting  from  others 
•whatever  it  imported  him  to  know  of  theirs.  "With  a 
strong  mind,  a  clear  intellect,  a  daring,  unscrupulous 
spirit,  and  an  indefatigable  application  to  business,  he 
was  peculiarly  well  adapted  to  be  the  minister  of  the 
indolent  Juan,  who  signed,  it  is  said,  everything  his 
minister  desired  without  casting  his  eye  on  the  contents 
of  the  papers. 

The  haughty  Castilian  nobles  could  not  long  brook 
the  sway  of  one  whom  his  birth  had  placed  so  far 
beneath  them,  and  a  series  of  revolts  and  commotions 
was  the  result  of  their  struggle  to  displace  him. 

The  first  disturbance  of  any  moment  was  occasioned 
by  Don  Enrique,  infante  of  Aragon.  This  prince, 
whom  love  or  ambition  had  led  to  become  the  suitor  of 
Catherine,  the  king's  sister,  met  with  a  repulse  from 
the  lady,  which,  instead  of  allaying,  inflamed  his  passion, 
and  he  determined  to  obtain  by  force  of  arms  what  was 
denied  his  entreaties.  The  rage  of  Enrique  was  prin- 
cipally directed  against  Don  Alvaro  de  Luna  and  his 
ally,  Don  Fernan  Alfonso  de  Robles,  whose  influence 
in  his  behalf  he  had  vainly  sought  to  secure.  Both 
nobles  knowing  Catherine  wished  to  marry  some  for- 
eign prince,  and  probably  desirous  of  thwarting  the 
obvious  ambition  of  Enrique,  whose  power  this  close  alli- 
ance with  the  sovereign  would  still  further  strengthen, 
upheld  the  princess  in  her  refusal.  On  the  12th 
July,  1420,  Enrique  repaired  to  Tordesillas,  where  the 


DOS  A    MARIA    OF    A  R  AGON.  345 

royal  family  resided,  at  the  head  of   three  hundred 
lances,  and  accompanied  by  other  troops  furnished  him 
by  his  friend  Ruy  Lopez  Davalos,  high  constable  of 
Castile.     Under  pretence  of  taking  leave  of  the  king, 
previous  to  his  departure  on  a  visit  to  his  mother, 
Leonor,  the  prince  forced  the  palace  gates,  and  pene- 
trating to  the  royal  chamber,  the  door  of  which  had 
been  purposely  left  unguarded  by  the  groom  of  the 
stole,  who  was  an   accomplice,  found  the  king  asleep, 
as  also  his  inseparable  companion,  Don  Alvaro,  who 
lay  on   a  mat  at  the   foot  of   the  royal  couch.     The 
favorite,  roused  by  the  noise,  and  seeing  the   armed 
followers  of  the  infante,  at  once   perceived  that  resist- 
ance was  vain,  and  repressing  all  appearance  of  fear  or 
resentment,  calmly  remonstrated   with  them   for  the 
want  of  respect  they  manifested   in  thus  approaching 
their  lord,  the   king.     His   prudence   saved   him  from 
imprisonment,     The  king  himself  greatly  agitated  and 
incensed,  exclaimed,  "  Cousin,  what  mean  ye  ?  what 
would  ye  do?"     To  which  the  infante  replied,   "  Sir,  I 
come  to  do  you   good  service,  and  put  away  from  you 
some  who  do  ugly  and  base  things  against  you,  and 
therefore  I  would  free  your  grace  from  subjection,  and 
have  arrested  here   in  your  palace  Juan  Hurtado  de 
Mendoza  and  his  nephew,  for  reasons  I  will  relate  to 
your  grace."     The  customary  excuse  of    traitors,  that 
all  is  for  the  king's  service,  was  no  blind  even  for  Juan, 
but  he  had  no  alternative  but  to  submit,  as  he  found 
that,  as  the  prince  said,  Hurtado  had  been  arrested  by 
some  of  his  attendants   while  asleep  with  his  wife  in 
15* 


346  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

one  of  the  royal  apartments.  To  keep  the  king  con- 
tented, his  favorite,  Don  Alvaro,  was  not  only  left  to 
him,  but  he  was  advised  to  keep  him  as  one  who  loved 
him  well,  while  at  the  same  time  the  power  of  the 
favorite  was  retrenched  by  the  exile  of  his  adherents 
and  allies.  The  young  queen  and  princess  Catherine 
were  exceedingly  alarmed  at  the  outcries  and  distur- 
bance attending  the  arrest  of  the  several  nobles  in  the 
palace,  and  remained  shut  up  in  their  private  apart- 
ments, from  whence  Catherine,  apprehending  she  was 
the  secret  object  of  the  outrage,  managed  during  the 
confusion  to  escape,  and  take  refuge  in  the  convent  of 
St.  Glair.  Enrique  having  removed  from  the  sove- 
reign's household  all  those  he  deemed  hostile  to  his 
plans,  and  replaced  them  with  creatures  of  his  own, 
removed  Juan  and  the  queen  to  Avila.  Previous 
to  the  departure  of  the  royal  cortege,  the  queen  was 
persuaded  to  send  for  Catherine  to  come  and  join  her, 
bat  the  princess  replied  that  she  would  remain  where 
she  then  was. 

The  queen  then  went  in  person  to  the  convent,  but 
she  was  obliged  to  return  alone, as  no  solicitations  could 
induce  Catherine  to  leave  it.  The  bishop  of  Palencia, 
a  friend  of  Enrique,  then  ordered  the  Abbess,  who  was 
in  his  jurisdiction,  to  surrender  the  lady,  and  another 
of  Enrique's  partisans,  Grarcifernandez  Manrique,  inti- 
mated that  he  would  pull  down  the  convent  unless 
she  did  so.  The  intimidated  nuns  then  entreated  the 
princess  that  she  would  save  them  from  destruction  by 
complying  with  the  request  made  to  her,  and  Cathe- 


DOS  A    MARIA    OP    ARAOON.  347 

rine  yielded,  stipulating,  however,  that  she  should 
not  be  compelled  to  marry  the  infante,  and  that  she 
should  retain  in  her  service  Mari  Barba,  a  faithful 
attendant.  The  royal  family  then  set  out  for  the  Alca- 
zar of  Avila. 

This  audacious  outrage  raised  the  indignation  of 
many  of  the  nobles,  and  Juan,  brother  of  Enrique, 
who  had  been  to  Navarre  in  order  to  celebrate  his  nup- 
tials with  the  infanta  Blanche,  hastened  back  to  Cas- 
tile, and  sent  letters  to  all  of  his  party  to  hold  themselves 
in  readiness  to  rescue  the  king  from  the  durance  in 
which  his  insolent  cousin  held  him.  The  dowager 
queen  of  Aragon,  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  the  strug- 
gle for  power  between  her  sons,  repaired  to  Avila,  to 
remonstrate  with  Enrique,  but  finding  him  bent  on 
pursuing  his  plans,  returned  in  great  sorrow  to  Medina 
del  Campo,  where  she  resided.  The  weak  sovereign, 
though  he  at  first,  through  Don  Alvaro,  had  sent  word 
to  his  cousin  Juan  to  rescue  him,  now,  yielding  to  the 
ascendancy  of  Enrique  issued  a  manifesto,  purporting 
that  he  was  enjoying  perfect  freedom.  Urged  also  by 
the  infante,  the  king  daily  importuned  Catherine  to 
accept  his  suit,  but  the  princess  resolutely  refused, 
and  dispatched  her  faithful  attendant  Mari  Barba,  to 
solicit  Juan's  protection.  Enrique  still  farther  to 
thwart  the  designs  of  his  brother  Juan,  caused  the 
king  to  convoke  a  cortes  to  which  none  of  the  opposite 
party,  though  bound  by  their  rank  to  attend  such 
meetings,  were  summoned,  and  the  weak  sovereign 
here  again  publicly  avowed  himself  free  and  unre- 


348  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

strained  in  word  and  deed.  The  queen  of  Aragon,  ad- 
vised of  her  brother's  situation,  sent  ambassadors  to 
ascertain  the  true  state  of  matters,  and  to  these  he 
repeated  his  assurances  of  being  at  liberty. 

Again  the  dowager  queen,  Leonor,  interfered  to  re- 
store peace,  and  again  returned  in  disgust  at  the 
uselessness  of  her  efforts.  Enrique  then  removed  his 
royal  prisoners  to  Talavera,  and  here  at  last  obtained 
the  hand  of  the  changeable  Catherine,  who,  either 
from  fear  of  his  power  or  vanquished  by  his  persever- 
ance, consented  to  marry  him.  The  realization  of  his 
wishes,  however,  caused  him  to  lose  much,  of  what  he 
had  gained,  for  Juan,  amid  the  rejoicings  incidental 
on  the  nuptials,  being  no  longer  as  closely  watched, 
planned  and  managed,  with  the  aid  of  Don  Alvaro,  his 
escape,  under  pretence  of  hawking.  Some  trusty  ser- 
vants of  Don  Enrique,  having  suspected  the  king's 
design  from  his  movements,  returned  in  haste  and 
warned  their  master,  the  infante,  who  was  attending 
mass  in  his  wife's  apartments.  Enrique  and  a  large 
body  of  troops  pursued  the  sovereign,  who  having  got 
the  start  of  him  with  his  small  number  of  attendants 
possessed  himself  of  the  castle  of  Montalvan,  and  dis- 
patched orders  to  the  neighboring  peasantry  to  take 
arms  and  assemble  there  for  his  protection.  Letters 
were  also  sent  to  the  same  effect  to  the  infante  Juan 
and  other  nobles.  Previous  to  Enrique's  departure 
in  pursuit  of  his  sovereign,  the  queen  and  princess 
Catherine,  fearing  lest  the  two  brothers  should  meet, 
and  fatal  consequences  ensue,  hastened  to  where  he 


DONA    MARIA    OF    ARAGOX.  849 

was  preparing  to  take  horse,  regardless  of  the  mud 
through  which  they  were  forced  to  make  their  way, 
dishevelled  and  unattended,  and  earnestly,  but  vainly 
besought  him  to  give  up  his  purpose. 

The  infante,  arriving  before  Montalvan  took  meas- 
ures to  prevent  all  access  to  it,  and  the  little  garrison 
which  had  already  been  increased  by  an  arrival  of 
fifty  ballesteros,  was  reduced  to  great  straits,  the  in- 
fante allowing  a  passage  to  no  provisions  excepting 
what  were  absolutely  necessary  for  the  king  himself, 
who  daily  received  a  fowl,  a  loaf,  and  a  small  silver 
pitcher  of  wine  for  his  dinner,  and  the  same  for  his 
supper.  Juan  ordered  the  horses  to  be  killed,  begin- 
ning with  his  own.  A  few  provisions  were  now  and 
then  smuggled  in,  but  they  were  suffering  great  straits, 
when  the  approach  of  the  infante,  Don  Juan,  and 
many  nobles  at  the  head  of  troops,  joined  to  the  news 
that  the  whole  nation,  indignant  at  such  treatment  of 
the  sovereign,  would  rise  against  him,  induced  En- 
rique to  retire.  Juan  was  escorted  back  to  Talavara, 
by  his  more  loyal  subjects  in  triumph.  Enrique  con- 
tinued in  arms  during  nearly  all  the  year  1422,  though 
without  any  active  demonstration  of  resistance  beyond 
keeping  together  an  armed  force  against  the  king's 
reiterated  orders.  Towards  the  close  of  the  year,  hav- 
ing ventured  within  the  king's  power,  on  the  faith  of 
a  safe  conduct,  he  was  thrown  into  prison.  The  in- 
fanta Catherine,  hearing  of  her  husband's  arrest,  took 
refuge  in  Aragon,  together  with  the  Condestable, 
Don  Ruy  Lopez  Davalos.  The  prince's  claim  of  the 


350  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

Marquisate  of  Villena,  which  he  had  extorted  from 
the  king  as  his  sister's  dower,  when  Juan  was  in  his 
power,  was  the  pretence  of  his  remaining  in  arms. 

On  the  5th  of  October  of  the  same  year,  the  queen 
gave  birth  to  her  first  child,  a  girl,  to  whom  was 
given  the  name  of  Catherine.  The  queen  had  been 
confined  in  Illescas,  whence,  on  her  recovery,  she 
proceeded  to  Toledo  where  the  princess  was  to  be 
sworn  heiress.  The  queen  herself  made  her  entrance 
on  one  day  and  the  infanta  on  the  next,  with  great 
solemnity.  In  the  apartment  of  the  Alcazar  a  rich 
throne  was  erected  for  the  king,  and  by  it  was  placed 
a  state  bed,  magnificently  adorned,  for  the  royal  babe. 
Around  the  bed  stood  a  number  of  lords,  and  ladies, 
and  prelates,  the  apartment  being  so  crowded  beyond 
the  space  which  etiquette  decreed  should  remain  vacant, 
that  it  was  almost  impossible  to  pass  to  and  from  it. 
After  the  customary  oration  had  been  pronounced  in 
the  king's  name  by  the  bishop  of  Cuenca,  the  infante, 
Don  Juan  of  Aragon,  the  king's  cousin,  advanced  to 
kiss  the  hand  of  the  little  princess,  and  took  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  her  as  rightful  heiress  of  the  crown, 
should  the  king  have  no  male  issue.  The  other  nobles 
then  followed  his  example,  the  infante  Juan  receiving 
their  oaths,  and  the  bishop  holding  the  crucifix.  This 
ceremony  was  followed  by  great  rejoicings  and  a  tour- 
nament, in  which  sixty  gentlemen  took  part,  besides 
many  jousts  which  took  place  during  a  whole  week. 

In  1423,  the  queen  gave  birth  to  another  daughter, 
the  infanta  Leonor,  who,  her  elder  sister  dying  in 


DOSfA    MARIA    OF    ARAGON.  351 

1424,  was  in  her  turn  sworn  heiress  to  the  crown,  in 
Burgos,  but  this  princess  also  died  young.  In  1425, 
on  the  5th  of  January,  the  nation  was  gratified  by  the 
birth  of  a  prince,  who  subsequently  ascended  the 
throne  as  Enrique  IV.  This  prince  was  sworn  with 
still  greater  pomp  than  his  sister.  In  the  course  of 
this  year,  through  the  influence  of  his  brother  Alfonso, 
the  king  of  Aragon,  the  infante  Don  Enrique  was 
restored  to  liberty  and  the  possession  of  his  estates,  his 
protracted  imprisonment  having  almost  led  to  a  war 
between  Aragon  and  Castile.  In  this  year  also,  the 
death  of  his  father-in-law,  Charles  the  Noble,  left  the 
infante  Don  Juan  the  heir,  in  right  of  his  \v  ife,  of  the 
crown  of  Navarre. 

The  excessive  partiality  of  the  king  for  Don  Alvaro, 
and  his  prodigality  towards  him,  had  for  some  time 
past  excited  great  jealousy  among  the  nobles,  and  dis- 
content in  all  the  nation,  and  the  murmurs  and  com- 
plaints growing  daily  more  violent,  Juan  was  obliged 
to  cede,  and  the  constable  was,  in  1427,  sentenced 
to  exile  from  court  for  eighteen  months.  In  the  inves- 
tigation that  preceded  this  sentence,  no  charge  could 
be  brought  against  Don  Alvaro,  who  was  charged 
with  no  abuse  of  the  great  power  he  had  exercised, 
and  who  had  ever  shown  the  warmest  zeal  for 
his  sovereign's  interest.  His  only  crime,  then,  was 
the  being  so  greatly  beloved  by  his  royal  master ;  but 
this  affection  was  no  way  impaired  by  his  absence, 
Juan  daily  writing  to  his  favorite.  Don  Alvaro  had 
too  many  and  too  powerful  adherents  to  remain  long 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

absent  from  court,  and  but  few  months  passed  ere  he 
was  again  invited  to  take  his  place  in  the  council,  but 
he  was  too  politic  to  appear  over  eager,  and  it  was 
found  necessary  to  reiterate  the  invitation  three  times 
ere  he  could  be  prevailed  upon  to  return.  The  king  of 
Navarre  who  was  too  much  of  a  Castilian  noble  to  be 
able  to  take  the  same  interest  in  his  kingdom  that  he 
did  in  the  intrigues  of  the  court  of  his  native  land,  left 
the  government  of  Navarre  to  his  wife,  and  remained 
in  Castile  to  dispute  the  favor  of  the  monarch  and  the 
administration  of  affairs  with  the  favorite,  and  his  own 
brother,  Enrique,  and  the  ambition  of  these  two 
princes  kept  the  nation  in  continual  commotion  during 
the  whole  reign  of  the  feeble  Juan.  Enraged  at  seeing 
the  high  constable  again  at  the  head  of  the  adminis- 
tration, the  disaffected  nobles  once  more  formed  a 
league,  at  the  head  of  which  were  the  kings  of  Aragon 
and  Navarre,  who  uniting  with  the  infante  Enrique,  in 
1429,  invaded  Castile. 

The  king's  forces,  commanded  by  Don  Alvaro,  met 
the  leaguers  near  Cogolludo  on  the  1st  July,  and  the 
armies  were  preparing  to  engage,  when  Cardinal  Foix, 
the  pope's  legate  to  Aragon,  presented  himself  on  the 
field  with  the  crucifix  in  his  hand,  and  persuaded  them 
to  refrain  that  day  from  hostilities.  Dona  Maria,  the 
queen  of  Aragon,  who  had  set  out  in  haste  to  prevent, 
if  possible,  this  unnatural  warfare  between  princes  so 
nearly  connected  by  blood  and  alliance,  arrived  on  the 
following  day,  and,  having  procured  a  tent,  caused  it 
to  be  pitched  between  the  two  armies.  Her  negotia- 


MARIA    OF    A  R  AGON.  353 

tions  were  so  successful  that  at  her  solicitation,  backed 
by  the  persuasions  of  the  pope's  legate,  the  Aragonese 
returned  to  his  dominions  without  striking  a  blow.  The 
conditions  were,  however,  objected  to  by  the  Castilian 
sovereign,  who,  refusing  to  ratify  them,  in  his  turn  in- 
vaded the  western  frontiers  of  Aragon,  the  states  of 
Burgos  giving  their  sovereign  the  warmest  support  in 
hi3  enterprise.  Nothing  of  any  consequence  was 
gained,  and  shortly  after  a  truce  of  five  years  was 
agreed  on,  the  king  of  Aragon  being  anxious  to  give 
his  undivided  attention  to  the  prosecution  of  his  war 
in  Naples.  Matters  continued  pretty  tranquil  during 
the  next  ten  years,  for,  though  murmurs  were  rife 
against  the  king  for  his  excessive  partiality  towards 
his  minister,  who  was  the  only  channel  through  which 
he  could  be  reached,  no  outbreak  took  place  during  that 
period. 

In  1431.  the  king  repaired  to  Andalusia  to  superin- 
tend in  person  the  war  with  the  Moors  of  Granada,  which 
was  prosecuted  with  good  success.  The  queen  accompan- 
ied her  husband  in  this  expedition,  passing  through  Ciu- 
dad  Real,  Cordova,  and  Carmona,  remaining  at  the  latter 
place  until  the  close  of  the  campaign.  In  the  year 
1434,  the  court  removed  to  Guadalupe  and  thence  to 
Madrid.  The  royal  family  were  in  Ihe  course  of  the 
year  magnificently  entertained  by  the  high  constable 
in  his  town  of  Escalona,  and  the  king  also  received 
an  embassy  from  the  king  of  France.  Juan  gave  the 
envoys  a  most  cordial  reception  in  the  great  hall  of  the 
palace  in  Madrid,  which,  it  being  night,  was  brilliantly 


354  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

lighted.  The  king  was  seated  on  his  chair  of  state, 
and  at  his  feet  was  crouched  an  enormous  lion  with  an 
embroidered  collar,  but  with  neither  chain  nor  cord  to 
restrain  his  motions,  whereupon  the  French  were  some- 
what afraid  to  advance  until  encouraged  to  do  so  by 
the  king  himself.  The  seneschal  then  knelt,  and 
would  have  kissed  the  king's  hand,  but  his  majesty 
graciously  prevented,  and  embraced  him  most  cordially. 
Having  caused  the  envoys  to  be  seated  on  rich  cush- 
ions placed  on  either  side  of  his  own  seat,  Juan  inquir- 
ed concerning  the  health  of  their  sovereign,  and  also 
that  of  several  lords  with  whom  he  was  acquainted. 
A  splendid  collation  was  then  served  up,  and  the  stran- 
gers duly  escorted,  took  their  departure.  The  follow- 
ing day  they  were  sumptuously  entertained  by  Don 
Alvaro,  and  subsequently  by  other  nobles,  departing 
at  last  well  pleased  with  their  reception  at  the  court 
of  Castile.  The  object  of  the  embassy  was  to  renew 
the  alliance  between  the  two  monarchs,  and  solicit 
the  aid  of  the  Castilians  in  the  war  against  England. 
In  December  of  the  following  year,  the  queen,  being 
at  Alcala  de  Henares  with  the  king  and  her  son,  re- 
ceived the  news  of  the  death  of  her  mother,  Dona 
Leonor,  dowager  queen  of  Aragon,  at  Medina  del  Cam- 
po.  Magnificent  funeral  honors  were  performed  at 
Alcala,  and  subsequently  in  Madrigal,  whither  the 
queen  retired  to  spend  the  season  of  her  mourning. 
Dona  Maria  inherited  from  her  mother  the  castle  and 
town  of  Montaloza,  and  the  king,  ever  seeking  to  lav- 


DOSA    MARIA    OF    ARAGON.  355 

ish  new  bounties  on  his  favorite,  was  exceedingly  de- 
sirous she  should  bestow  them  on  Don  Alvaro. 

It  seldom  happens  that  the  king's  favorite  stands 
equally  high  with  the  queen,  who  is  not  unfrequently 
jealous  that  another  should  possess  that  influence  she 
considers  should  belong  exclusively  to  herself,  and 
to  Maria  Don  Alvaro  was  an  object  of  dislike,  if 
not  hatred.  She  was,  therefore,  excessively  reluctant 
to  give  up  her  domains,  which  she  was  the  more  loth 
to  part  with,  from  their  having  belonged  to  her  mother, 
and  long  returned  a  denial  to  the  king's  request.  In 
the  spring  of  1437,  won  by  Juan's  importunities,  she 
at  length  gave  them  up,  receiving  instead  the  reve- 
nues of  the  town  of  Arevalo. 

In  the  month  of  March  of  this  year,  the  betrothal 
of  her  son,  prince  Henry,  with  the  infanta  Blanche  of 
Navarre,  his  cousin,  took  place.  On  this  occasion  the 
queen  entered  into  a  secret  compact  with  the  infante, 
Don  Enrique  of  Aragon,  and  the  king  of  Navarre,  her 
brothers,  the  admiral  Don  Fadrique,  the  count  of  Haro, 
Don  Pedro  Fernandez  de  Velasco,  and  others,  against 
the  hated  Don  Alvaro  de  Luna.  In  1440,  the  par- 
ties being  of  age,  the  king  thought  it  high  time 
that  the  marriage  of  his  son  with  the  infanta  of  Na- 
varre should  take  place.  Don  Pedro  de  Velasco,  count 
of  Haro,  Don  Inigo  Lopez  de  MenJoza,  lord  of  Hita 
and  Buytrago,  and  Don  Alfonso  de  Cartagena,  bishop 
of  Burgos,  were  sent  to  bring  the  bride  to  Castile. 
These  lords  met  the  princess,  the  queen  her  mother, 
and  prince  Carlos,  her  brother,  in  Logrono,  from 


THE    QUEENS    OP    SPAIN. 

whence  the  prince  returned  to  Navarre,  and  the  queen 
and  princess  with  a  numerous  suite  of  ladies,  lords 
and  prelates,  continued  their  way  to  Castile. 

On  their  passage  through  Vilhorado,  belonging  to 
the  count  of  Haro,  they  were  magnificently  enter- 
tained by  its  lord,  and  in  Briviesca,  also  forming  part 
of  the  count's  domains,  their  arrival  gave  occasion  to 
that  lord  to  display  his  taste  and  wealth  in  fetes  un- 
surpassed in  magnificence  and  originality.  "When 
within  two  leagues  of  the  town  they  were  greeted  by 
a  most  novel  species  of  entertainment,  devised  by  the 
constable.  A  hundred  men-at-arms  appeared  on  the 
road,  fifty  mounted  on  steeds  covered  with  red  trap- 
pings, and  fifty  on  steeds  covered  with  white,  the 
riders  being  clad  in  complete  armor  and  wearing 
helmets  with  flowing  plumes.  As  soon  as  this  goodly 
band  came  in  sight  of  the  regal  cortege,  the  horsemen 
divided  according  to  their  colors,  the  red  drawing  up  on 
one  side  of  the  road,  and  the  white  on  the  other,  and 
then  charged  furiously  with  their  lances.  These  being 
shivered,  they  drew  their  swords  and  continued  the 
combat  until  the  signal  was  given  by  the  constable, 
when,  wheeling  round,  they  reunited  and  rode  off. 

The  royal  ladies  were  received  in  Briviesca  with 
great  pomp  by  the  towns-people,  each  trade  with  ban- 
ners, and  some  cunning  emblematical  device.  These 
were  followed  by  quadrilles  of  dancers,  and  then  came 
the  Jews  in  grand  procession,  with  the  book  of  their 
law,  and  the  Moors  in  another  with  the  Alcoran  borne 
in  state,  with  a  mighty  noise  of  tabors,  kettle-drums 


DOS  A  MARIA  OF    ARAGON.  357 

and  trumpets.  All  these  followed  the  queen  and  her 
suite  to  the  count's  palace,  where  a  number  of  tables 
were  set  forth  with  all  manner  of  meats  and  the  choic- 
est fruits,  in  such  profusion  that  the  like  was  never 
seen  before,  the  guests  being  waited  on  by  richly- 
dressed  gentlemen,  and  pages  of  the  count's  household. 
The  queen  and  princess  were  seated  at  a  separate 
table,  but  they  insisting  that  their  hostess  should  bear 
them  company,  the  countess  sat  with  them.  The 
ladies  and  damsels  of  the  royal  suite  were  seated  at 
other  tables,  a  knight  or  gentil-hombre,  sitting  beside 
each  lady.  To  those  whose  rank  did  not  allow  of 
their  dining  in  the  palace,  a  plentiful  supply  of  the 
same  dishes  was  sent,  to  their  several  lodgings,  and 
this  was  continued  during  the  four  days  the  royal 
party  remained  in  Briviesca,  the  count  having  caused 
it  to  be  proclaimed  that  no  provisions  should  be  sold 
to  either  Castilians  or  foreigners,  but  that  the  wants 
of  all  would  be  supplied  by  him  at  his  own  expense. 
In  a  lower  hall  in  the  palace,  a  silver  fountain  sup- 
plied day  and  night  excellent  wine  to  all  who  chose  to 
drink  or  carry  away,  as  best  pleased  them. 

During  the  first  three  days  the  guests  were  enter- 
tained either  with  balls  in  the  palace,  or  with  bull- 
fights, mummeries  and  the  Moorish  game  of  reeds.  On 
the  fourth  day,  the  company  was  taken  to  an  immense 
enclosure,  behind  the  palace,  where  a  large  temporary 
hall  had  been  erected,  at  one  extremity  of  which  was 
a  raised  platform  to  which  an  ascent  of  some  twenty 
steps  led,  the  whole  being  covered  with  green  sods  so 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

closely  united  that  the  verdant  carpet  seemed  to  have 
been  laid  by  the  hand  of  nature.  Here,  under  a  mag- 
nificent canopy  of  crimson  tapestry,  were  chairs  of 
state  for  the  royal  guests,  and  a  seat  for  their  hostess, 
while  a  table  spread  with  every  delicacy  was  placed 
before  r  them.  Below  the  platform,  were  tables  at 
which  the  other  guests  were  placed  in  the  same  order 
as  on  the  foregoing  days.  At  one  extremity  of  the  en- 
closure twenty  gentlemen  tilted  in  full  armor,  at 
another  was  a  large  artificial  pond  wherein  a  number 
of  fish  of  a  large  size  had  been  purposely  deposited  ; 
these  were  caught  by  anglers  and  brought  to  the 
princess.  At  another  extremity  of  the  enclosure 
was  a  wood,  the  trees  of  which  had  been  purposely 
brought  there  for  the  occasion,  and  this  forest  had 
been  stocked  with  a  number  of  wild  boars,  bears 
and  deer,  the  whole  being  so  enclosed  as  to  preclude 
any  risk  of  their  escaping  and  harming  the  spectators. 
Into  this  forest  there  entered  fifty  huntsmen  with  their 
mastiffs  and  hounds  who  hunted,  ran  down  and  killed 
the  animals,  which  were  presented  as  spoils  to  the 
princess.  And  truly,  to  all  present  it  appeared  matter 
of  exceeding  great  wonderment,  to  behold  all  the  pas- 
times of  mimic  war,  the  chase,  and  fishing  within 
that  space.  The  tilting,  hunting  and  angling  being 
finished,  the  tables  were  removed  from  the  banquet- 
ting  hall,  and  dancing  began  and  lasted  till  dawn  of 
day,  the  light  of  the  sun  having  been  amply  compen- 
sated for  by  the  splendid  illumination.  When  the 
dancing  was  over,  a  sumptuous  collation  was  served 


DOftA    MARIA    OF    ARAGON.  359 

in  the  same  order  as  before,  after  which  the  instru- 
mental musicians  and  the  singers  were  rewarded 
for  their  performances  with  two  large  bags  of  coin  by 
the  count.  The  noble  host  then  approaching  the 
princess,  knelt  before  her,  and  thanking  her  for  the 
honor  she  had  vouchsafed  his  house  by  her  presence, 
begged  her  acceptance  of  a  jewel  of  great  price.  The 
same  ceremony  was  repeated  to  the  queen,  and  to 
every  lady  present  a  rich  jewel  was  also  given,  not 
one  being  forgotten,  but  each  being  presented  with  a 
diamond,  emerald  or  ruby  ring.  Every  knight  and 
gentleman  in  the  royal  cortege  had  a  gift  of  either  a 
fine  mule,  or  piece  of  costly  brocade  or  rich  silk. 

These  magnificent  fetes  being  ended,  the  cortege 
pursued  its  route  to  Burgos.  Here  also  the  royal 
ladies  were  welcomed  with  gay  fetes  and  well  enter- 
tained several  days,  when  they  again  set  out  and  pro- 
ceeded to  Duefias,  where  they  were  met  by  prince 
Henry  with  a  numerous  suite  of  nobles  and  gentlemen. 
The  bride  and  bridegroom  exchanged  costly  gifts  ac- 
cording to  the  custom  of  the  age,  and  on  the  following 
day  the  prince  returned  to  Valladolid.  The  day  after 
his  departure,  the  queen  and  princess  resumed  their 
journey,  and  when  within  half  a  league  of  Valladolid, 
they  were  met  by  the  nobles  and  clergy  of  the  court 
of  Castile,  who  had  sallied  forth  to  receive  them. 

In  Valladolid  they  were  welcomed  by  Dona  Maria, 
the  queen  of  Castile  and  the  noblest  of  the  Castilian 
ladies.  The  nuptials  were  celebrated  on  the  fifteenth 
September,  1440,  in  presence  of  the  king  and  queen 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

of  Navarre,  the  king  and  queen  of  Castile,  and  the 
flower  of  the  nobility  of  both  kingdoms.  On  the  sixth 
of  October  the  bride  presented  herself,  for  the  first  time 
since  her  marriage,  in  public,  the  king  of  Castile  lead- 
ing his  daughter-in-law's  palfrey,  followed  by  a  num- 
ber of  nobles  on  foot.  The  palfrey  of  the  queen  of 
Castile  was  led  by  her  brother,  the  king  of  Navarre. 
Many  and  brilliant  were  the  entertainments  given  on 
the  occasion  of  the  marriage.  Among  others  was  a 
famous  passage  of  arms  held  by  Don  Ruy  Diaz  de 
Mendoza,  with  nineteen  gentlemen  of  his  household, 
during  forty  days,  against  Castilians  or  foreigners,  the 
condition  being  that  each  challenger  should  break  four 
lances. 

So  many  were  the  deaths  and  grievous  wounds  in- 
flicted in  these  lists,  to  which  a  number  of  knights 
repaired  to  exhibit  their  dexterity,  that  the  king  inter- 
posed Lis  authority,  and  put  a  stop  to  these  perilous 
games.  These  catastrophes  presaged  but  too  truly 
those  that  were  to  ensue  in  the  civil  war  of  which 
these  mimic  encounters  were  the  forerunners.  The 
machinations  of  the  league  against  the  favorite  minis- 
ter, interrupted  for  a  season  by  the  nuptial  festivities, 
were  now  resumed  with  greater  activity  than  ever, 
the  prince  and  his  mother  openly  declaring  their  en- 
mity to  Don  Alvaro,  and  joining  with  the  king  of  Na- 
varre, the  infante  Enrique,  and  the  nobles,  in  demand- 
ing the  expulsion  from  court  of  a  man  whose  chief 
crimes  were  his  superiority  of  intellect  and  the  love 
his  sovereign  bore  him.  Juan,  treating  these  insolent 


DOSfA    MARIA    OF    ARAOON.  361 

demands  with  contempt,  persevered  in  supporting  his 
long  tried  friend,  and  the  league  now  resorting  to  open 
hostilities,  the  whole  kingdom  was  divided  into  parties, 
some  towns  siding  with  the  king,  and  others  with  the 
league,  city  after  city  of  those  that  held  out  for  the 
king  being  invested  and  taken  by  the  rebels.  The 
queen  and  her  son,  together  with  her  sister  Leonor, 
the  widowed  queen  of  Portugal,  having  taken  up  their 
residence  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Mary  of  the  town  of 
Duefias,  sent  the  most  insolent  proposals  to  the  king, 
who  peremptorily  rejected  them. 

The  king  of  Navarre  and  the  infante  Don  Enrique  hav- 
ing effected  a  forcible  entrance  into  the  town  of  Medina, 
where  the  king  and  constable  were,  the  latter  was 
forced  to  retreat  precipitately,  as  all  the  animosity  of 
the  leaguers  was  against  him,  while  the  king,  unable 
to  contend  against  their  superior  forces,  was  compelled 
to  give  his  approval  to  the  iniquitous  sentence  given 
by  the  queen  and  her  son,  who  now  joined  their  con- 
federates in  Medina,  against  the  constable,  exiling 
him  for  six  years  from  court.  Matters  were  quieted 
in  appearance  for  a  time,  though  in  reality  nothing 
was  permanently  settled.  The  queen,  either  satisfied 
with  the  concessions  she  had  obtained,  and  the  prom- 
inent part  she  had  taken  in  these  broils,  or  from  want 
of  firmness  to  continue  the  opposition  she  had  shown 
to  the  constable,  in  the  year  1443,  together  with  the 
king,  was  sponsor  to  an  infant  daughter  of  Don  Alvaro. 
The  incensed  leaguers  now  held  their  sovereign  almost 
a  prisoner  in  his  own  palace,  and  dictated  every  mea- 
16 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

sure,  but  the  politic  constable  acting  on  the  ancient 
but  infallible  rule,  to  divide  and  reign,  found  means  to 
induce  the  prince,  who  seems  to  have  been  as  weak 
and  infirm  of  purpose  as  his  father,  to  abandon  his 
party,  and  Enrique  called  on  all  loyal  subjects  to  join 
him  in  rescuing  the  king  from  the  species  of  subjec- 
tion in  which  he  was  held  by  his  cousins  Enrique  and 
Juan  king  of  Navarre.  Don  Juan  having  made  his  es- 
cape to  his  son's  camp,  the  confederates  were  defeated 
in  several  actions,  and  the  towns  and  fortresses  they 
had  seized  recovered  by  the  king,  who  seizing  also  their 
personal  estates  drove  them  to  take  refuge  in  Aragon. 
Amid  these  hostilities,  in  the  year  1445,  the  queen 
sickened  and  died  so  suddenly  as  to  create  suspicion 
of  her  death  having  been  accelerated  by  the  constable, 
whose  enemy  She  had  long  been.  For  this  suspicion, 
however,  no  other  foundation  existed  but  the  sud- 
denness both  of  her  death  and  that  of  her  sister, 
Leonor,  the  widowed  queen  of  Portugal.  Dona  Maria 
complained  of  no  other  illness  than  a  violent  headache, 
and  expired  on  the  fourth  day  from  that  on  which  she 
was  first  attacked  by  the  pain.  The  precise  date  of 
her  death  is  not  recorded,  though  it  was  probably 
towards  the  end  of  February,  as  she  died  a  few 
days  after  her  sister  Leonor,  who  expired  on  the  eigh- 
teenth of  that  month,  without  any  previous  illness. 
That  both  were  the  victims  of  poison,  was  inferred 
from  the  bodies  of  both  being  covered  immediately 
after  death  with  livid  and  swollen  spots,  and  the  nu- 
merous foes  of  Don  Alvaro  were  not  backward  in 


DOSfA    MARIA    OF    ARAGON.  363 

charging  him  with  this  crime,  though  no  proof  could 
be  given  of  his  having  committed  it,  either  directly  or 
indirectly.  Rumors  were  rife  as  to  the  motives  that 
could  have  induced  the  king  to  consent  to  his  consort 
being  thus  sent  to  a  premature  grave,  and  it  was  by 
many  asserted  that  the  light  conduct  of  both  the  royal 
ladies  had  provoked  the  sovereign's  anger,  and  that 
Don  Alvaro  was  but  the  agent  to  execute  the  ven- 
geance of  a  justly  incensed  husband.  But  even  if  the 
surmises  concerning  the  conduct  of  the  queens  were 
correct,  Juan  II.  was  of  too  easy  a  nature  and  too  ut- 
terly indifferent  to  his  consort's  deportment,  to  resent 
any  infidelity,  and  to  Don  Alvaro  it  must  certainly 
have  been  of  no  consequence.  Whatever  ill  feeling 
might  have  existed  between  the  queen  and  the  minis- 
ter had  subsided  some  time  previous  to  her  death,  and 
had  his  disposition  been  revengeful  and  cruel,  he 
would  have  exercised  his  vengeance  on  others,  who 
were  far  more  obnoxious  to  him  than  the  queen  and 
her  sister. 

Maria  of  Aragon  died  in  Villacastin,  within  a  few 
days  after  the  battle  of  Olmedo,  in  which  the  king  of 
Castile,  who  commanded  his  army  in  person,  was  victo- 
rious, and  the  king  of  Navarre  and  the  infante  Don 
Enrique  defeated,  and  the  latter  mortally  wounded. 


364  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

DONA  ISABEL  OF  PORTUGAL. 

1447. 

REIGN  OF  JUAN   II. 

THE  battle  of  Olmedo  seemed  to  have  consolidated 
the  power  of  the  king,  and  insured  that  of  his  minister, 
but  that  of  the  latter  had  reached  its  acme,  and  the 
very  means  which  a  mistaken  policy  sugge>ted  to  him 
to  secure  his  influence  proved  his  ruin.  What  neither 
the  prayers,  remonstrances  nor  open  rebellions  of  his 
consort,  son,  royal  cousin  and  powerful  barons  had 
effected,  was  done  by  the  imprudence  of  Don  Alvaro 
himself,  who  introduced  into  the  royal  palace  and 
seated  on  his  master's  throne  the  fair  cause  of  his 
downfall  and  bloody  death.  Presuming  on  an  inti- 
macy of  nearly  the  third  of  a  century,  on  his  thorough 
knowledge  of  his  sovereign's  foibles,  his  weak,  irreso- 
lute character,  his  incapacity  for  business,  and  his 
consequent  dependence  on  his  able  favorite,  the  latter 
overstepped  the  limits  of  patience,  and  contradicted 
his  easy  tool  on  the  subject  that  he  had  most  at  heart. 
After  the  death  of  his  first  queen,  Juan  was  desirous 
of  selecting  as  his  second,  Radegouda,  daughter  of 
Charles  VII.,  king  of  France,  who  was  famed  for  her 
beauty,  and  afterwards  married  Sigismund,  duke  of 
Austria.  Don  Alvaro,  however,  who  deemed  it  more 
to  his  interest  that  the  future  queen  of  Castile  should 
be  indebted  to  him  for  the  throne,  without  even  con- 
sulting his  master,  had  negotiated  with  Don  Pedro, 


DOSA    ISABEL    OF    PORTUGAL.  365 

the  regent  of  Portugal,  to  obtain  for  the  royal  widower 
the  hand  of  Isabel,  daughter  of  the  infante  Don  Juan, 
and  of  Dona  Isabel  de  Barcelos,  and  granddaughter  of 
Don  Juan,  king  of  Portugal.    Within  five  months  after 
the  death  of  Maria,  the  constable  had  solicited  at  the 
court    of    Rome  a  dispensation   for  the    marriage  of 
Don  Juan  with  her  successor,  and  in  November  of  the 
same  year,  it  was  signed  by  Pope  Eugenio  IY.     The 
king  was  ill  disposed  to  consent  to  this  arbitrary  dis- 
posal of  his  hand,  but  he  was  too  well  drilled  to  obey 
his  minister  to  make  any  decided  opposition,  however 
he  might  murmur  in  private.     With  his  usual  dex- 
terity, the  constable  represented  the  advantages  that 
would  accrue  from  the  alliance  with  Portugal,  as  in 
Juan's  frequent  contests  with  his  disaffected  nobles, 
he  could  rely  on  powerful  aid  from  that  country.     The 
debt,  also,  due  by  Castile  for  the  assistance  of  troops 
during  the  last  civil  wars,  would   be  cancelled,  as  it 
would  be  included   in  the  dower  of  the   bride.     The 
arguments  of  Don    Alvaro,  joined  to  Juan's   habit  of 
yielding  to  him,  prevailed,   and   he   unwillingly  con- 
sented to  ratify  the  conditions  made  in  his  name,  and 
empowered  Don  Garcia   Sanchez  de  Valladolid  as  his 
proxy  to  sign  the  contract  and  marry  the  infanta,  all 
which  was  performed  on  the  9th  of  October,  of  that 
year,  in   the   town  of  Ebora.     The   king  of  Portugal 
gave  the  bride  45,000  florins,  (the  amount  of  the  debt 
of  Castile,)  and  60,000  florins  as  her  own  patrimony. 
The  king  of  Castile  settled  on  her  a  jointure  of  15,000 
florins,  the  towns  of  Soria,  and  Ciudad  Real  and  Mad- 


366  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

rigal.  The  nuptials  were  celebrated  in  August  of  the 
year  1447,  in  the  town  of  Madrigal.  Though  the 
beauty  of  his  young  bride  charmed  the  king,  he  could 
not  forget  that  he  had  been  treated  like  a  child  or  an 
idiot,  that  his  inclinations  had  been  disregarded,  and 
his  will  set  aside  by  the  constable.  Time  and  impu- 
nity had  rendered  the  favorite  careless  of  the  arts  with 
which  he  had  formerly  governed  his  sovereign,  and  the 
yoke  which  had  before  become  galling  to  Juan,  was 
rendered  insupportably  so  by  his  late  arbitrary  pro- 
ceedings. Still,  surrounded  as  he  was  by  the  creatures 
of  Don  Alvaro,  he 'dared  not  give  vent  to  the  angry 
feelings  that  rankled  in  his  breast,  and  having  vainly 
sought  counsel  from  two  confidants,  he  at  length 
opened  his  heart  to  his  young  queen,  and  besought  her 
to  advise  him  how  to  rid  himself  of  his  quondam  friend. 
Isabel,  who  had  been  greatly  displeased  by  the  un- 
called for  interference  between  the  king  and  herself, 
on  several  occasions,  of  Don  Alvaro,  and  who  was  gifted 
with  ready  wit  and  an  active  spirit,  bade  the  king  re- 
pair to  Valladolid,  and  leave  the  matter  to  her,  and 
she  would  devise  means  to  arrest  the  all  powerful 
favorite,  who,  though  disliked,  was  greatly  dreaded  by 
his  pusillanimous  sovereign.  Though  the  downfall  of 
the  constable  was  then  determined,  the  continual  dis- 
turbances that  daily  took  place  throughout  the  king- 
dom long  rendered  its  accomplishment  impossible, 
and  it  was  not  until  the  beginning  of  the  year  1453 
that  the  plots  of  his  enemy  were  realized. 

In  1451,  on  the  twenty-second  of  April,  the  queen 


DOSfA    ISABEL    OF    PORTUGAL.  367 

gave  b  th,  in  Madrigal,  to  an  infanta,  to  whom  was 
given  her  mother's  name,  and  who  was  destined  to  be 
the  first  sovereign  who  wore  the  united  diadems  of  Cas- 
tile and  Aragon.  The  king  bestowed  on  his  daughter 
the  town  of  Cuellar  as  an  apanage,  and  in  his  will 
left  her  a  considerable  sum  in  gold  as  a  dower.  This 
princess  could  not  be  then  sworn  heiress  as  the  king 
had  a  male  heir  by  his  first  queen,  but  this  ceremony 
was  subsequently  performed. 

Two  years  after  the  queen  gave  birth  to  a  prince, 
who  was  named  Alfonso,  and  to  whom  the  king,  his 
father,  would  willingly  have  left  his  crown,  had  he  not 
feared  the  great  disturbances  such  a  measure  would 
have  created.  Juan  could  scarcely  be  expected  to 
feel  much  affection  for  prince  Enrique,  who  had  been 
the  bane  of  his  life,  and  whose  repeated  revolts  were 
a  source  of  continual  torment  to  him.  In  the  frequent 
quarrels  between  Juan  and  his  unnatural  heir,  Don 
Alvaro  continued  to  be  umpire,  and  he  was  also  the 
commandant  of  the  royal  troops  in  the  hostilities  that 
still  existed  between  the  king  and  his  cousin  of  Na- 
varre. In  every  case  of  emergency,  Don  Alvaro  was 
indispensable  to  his  weak  master,  and  though  his  con- 
duct became  daily  more  tyrannical,  years  elapsed  before 
the  king  dared  shake  off  his  authority,  nor  did  he  even 
then  venture  to  act  openly,  but  to  the  very  last  dis- 
guised his  intentions.  It  is  even  probable  that  Juan 
would  never  have  proceeded  to  extremities  against 
his  minister,  had  he  not  been  sustained,  and  even 
driven  on  by  the  queen,  who,  jealous  of  the  superior 


068  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

influence  of  the  favorite,  decreed  and  accomplished  his 
ruin  and  tragical  death  with  the  most  vindictive  and 
persevering  cruelty 

Having  obtained  from  the  king  the  order  for  the 
arrest  of  the  constable,  Isabe.  confided  it  to  the  countess 
of  Rivadeo,  desiring  her  to  hasten  with  it  to  her  uncle, 
the  count  of  Plasencia,  who  was  entrusted  with  the 
perilous  charge  of  executing  it.  The  countess  arrived 
in  Bejar  in  the  middle  of  the  night  of  the  third  of 
April,  1453,  and  immediately  communicated  her 
errand  to  the  count,  who  was  one  of  the  constable's 
most  inveterate  foes.  The  old  noble,  exulting  in  the 
prospect  of  his  enemy's  ruin,  yet  deprived  by  his  age 
and  infirmities  from  executing  in  person  the  welcome 
commission,  entrusted  it  to  his  son,  Don  Alvaro  Destu- 
niga,  who  set  out  with  seven  hundred  lances  for  Burgos. 
Marching  by  night  only,  and  observing  the  greatest 
secrecy,  young  Destuniga  arrived  in  Burgos,  into  the 
fortress  of  which,  having  entered  first  himself,  he  man- 
aged to  introduce  his  men.  While  on  the  way,  he 
was  met  by  a  messenger  from  the  king  bidding  him 
return,  for  that  his  forces  were  insufficient  for  the 
purpose.  "  Return  !"  replied  the  bold  youth,  "  never 
shall  such  shame  be  told  of  me.  Tell  his  majesty  to 
rest  in  peace,  for  return  I  will  not  from  Burgos  until 
I  have  taken  the  constable,  alive  or  dead."  The  mea- 
sures of  his  enemies  could  not  be  conducted  with  such 
secrecy  but  that  some  rumors  reached  the  constable, 
who  sending  for  the  bishop  of  Avila,  whose  sister  was 
the  wife  of  the  Alcayde  01  the  fortress,  bade  him  go 


DOSTA    ISABEL    OF    PORTUGAL.  369 

to  the  castle  and  ascertain  if  fresh  troops  had  entered 
it.  The  bishop  obeyed,  and  inquired  concerning  the 
matter  of  his  sister,  who,  either  deceived  by  her  hus- 
band or  a  party  to  the  plot,  replied  affirmatively,  but 
that  they  were  merely  a  reinforcement  of  sixty  men 
added  to  the  garrison. 

The  constable  was  satisfied  with  the  reply,  but  ru- 
mors were  rife  in  the  town  that  he  was  to  be  seized 
on  the  following  day,  though  none  dared  inform  him  of 
the  unwelcome  news.  A  faithful  servant,  however, 
Diego  de  Gotor,  advised  him  of  the  reports  that  were 
circulated,  and  urged  him  to  seek  safety  in  flight. 

The  constable,  who  was  at  supper  when  the  news 
was  brought  him,  at  first  seemed  inclined  to  take  this 
advice,  but  the  thing  appeared  after  some  reflection 
so  utterly  impossible  that  he  bade  his  faithful  adviser 
"  go,  for  naught  would  come  of  it."  "  Grod  grant  it 
may  prove  so,"  replied  Diego,  "  but  it  grieves  me  much 
that  you  will  not  abide  by  my  counsel."  After  the 
departure  of  Diego,  Don  Alvaro  was  persuaded  to  send 
a  faithful  page  to  the  king,  informing  him  that  troops 
had  entered  the  castle,  and  asking  what  he  determined 
in  this  matter.  The  king,  who  was  undressing  before 
the  fire  at  the  time,  appeared  exceedingly  confused 
when  Chacon,  the  page,  delivered  his  message,  and  it 
was  some  time  ere  he  could  return  an  answer,  which 
he  did  at  length,  to  the  effect  that  on  the  following 
day  he  would  talk  over  the  business  with  the  consta- 
ble. Pedro  de  Lujan,  gentleman  of  the  chamber  to 
the  king,  and  a  warm  friend  of  Don  Alvaro,  accompa- 
16* 


370  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

nying  the  page  to  the  door,  bade  him  tell  his  master 
from  him,  that  "  he  prayed  to  Grod  they  might  all 
wake  with  their  heads  on  the  morrow  morn."  The 
constable,  on  hearing  this  message,  becoming  rather 
alarmed,  sent  for  a  friend  and  asked  his  advice,  but 
was  by  him  dissuaded  from  mounting  his  horse  and 
attempting  to  make  his  escape.  The  few  adherents 
of  the  constable  now  attempted  to  make  head  and  op- 
pose any  attempt  that  might  be  made,  but  too  much 
time  had  been  suffered  to  elapse,  and  but  forty  men 
could  be  got  together. 

Don  Alvaro  himself,  with  a  coolness  that  seems  inex- 
plicable, gave  his  attention  for  some  time  during  the 
night  to  some  lately  arrived  musicians  who  were  sing- 
ing in  the  streets,  after  which  he  retired  to  rest.  The 
rashness  and  indifference  with  which  Don  Alvaro  dis- 
regarded the  signs  of  danger,  the  many  warnings  of 
his  friends  and  the  suggestions  of  his  own  reason,  would 
seem  to  warrant  the  belief  that  some  irresistible  power 
compelled  him  to  await  the  fate  he  felt  he  could  not 
ultimately  avoid.  How  otherwise  can  be  understood 
this  neglect  of  the  most  ordinary  precautions  in  one 
who  had  sailed  so  long  a  pilot  on  those  stormy  seas, 
yet  now,  when  the  tempest  lowered,  forsook  the  helm 
and  calmly  awaited  the  storm  that  was  to  launch  him 
into  eternity  ?  The  day  had  scarcely  dawned  when 
the  lances  of  Destuniga,  issuing  from  the  fortress,  ap- 
proached the  residence  of  the  constable.  When  within 
sight  of  the  house,  which  they  surrounded  that  no  one 
should  escape  from  it,  they  raised  the  cry  of  "  Castile, 


DOffA    ISABEL    OF    PORTUGAL  371 

Castile,  the  king's  freedom  /"  The  constable,  whom 
one  of  his  servants  had  that  instant  told  of  the  approach 
of  the  troops,  came,  partly  dressed,  to  the  window,  and 
carried  away  by  his  military  enthusiasm,  could  not 
forbear  exclaiming,  "  Voto  a  Dios,  these  be  splendid 
fellows  !"  A  shot  that  struck  the  edge  of  the  casement 
warned  him  to  retire.  A  desperate  resistance  was  now 
begun  by  the  inmates,  headed  by  the  brave  Chacon, 
every  missile  of  offence,  such  as  stones,  faggots,  arrows, 
being  used  to  compel  the  assailants  to  retire.  The 
chief  object  of  this  defence  was  to  gain  time,  that  the 
constable's  people,  who  were  dispersed  in  the  town, 
might  collect,  and  thus  rendering  the  chances  more 
equal,  enable  them  to  continue  the  resistance  or  obtain 
better  conditions  than  they  could  otherwise  expect. 
But,  whether  prevented  by  the  king,  who  with  many 
armed  citizens  was  awaiting  in  the  square  the  result, 
or  from  want  of  a  chief  to  head  and  guide  them,  none 
ventured  to  approach.  The  besiegers  had  orders  from 
the  king  to  surround  the  house  and  prevent  egress, 
but  not  to  attack  it,  and  as  man  after  man  dropped, 
the  patience  of  the  young  commander  was  well  nigh 
exhausted.  Chacon  and  Sise,  seeing  that  sooner  or 
later  they  would  be  forced  to  surrender,  besought  their 
lord  to  take  advantage  of  a  postern  gate  still  unvvatched 
by  the  enemy,  and  take  to  flight,  as  he  was  the  sole 
object  of  the  attack,  and  no  danger  was  dreaded  by 
his  servants.  With  great  reluctance,  the  constable  at 
length  consented  to  go,  accompanied  by  one  who  knew 
every  issue,  and  was  to  guide  him  through  narrow 


372  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

by-streets  to  the  river  side.  With  little  confidence 
in  his  guide,  filled  with  misgivings  as  to  the  course  he 
was  pursuing,  in  thus  leaving  his  devoted  little  band  to 
their  fate  while  he  himself  sought  safety  in  an  ignoble 
flight,  his  motions  impeded  by  the  cumbrous  disguise 
he  had  assumed,  the  progress  of  Don  Alvaro  was  slow, 
and  he  could  with  difficulty  keep  up  with  his  guide. 
Fatigued,  disheartened,  and  desperate,  the  careworn 
noble  called  to  his  attendant,  and  declaring  that  he 
"  would  return  and  die  nobly  fighting  with  his  follow- 
ers, rather  than  escape  through  blind  alleys  and  sewers 
like  a  base-born  criminal,"  he  turned  about  and  made  his 
way  back  through  the  still  un watched  door.  Having 
again  assumed  hi.s  armor,  he  mounted  his  horse,  and 
placing  himself  at  the  head  of  his  little  troop  in  the 
courtyard  once  more,  prepared  to  sell  his  life  dearly. 

Meanwhile,  the  king,  seeing  it  would  be  impossible 
to  take  the  lion  alive  from  his  den,  sent  to  summon 
him  to  surrender,  with  a  promise  that  justice  should 
be  done  him,  signed  and  sealed  by  the  king  himself. 
The  faithful  adherents  of  Don  Alvaro  endeavored  to 
dissuade  him  from  trusting  to  the  faith  of  one  in  whom 
he  knew  no  trust  could  be  placed,  and  whose  weak  and 
fickle  nature  rendered  him  the  tool  of  others.  "  Better 
far,  my  lord,"  urged  the  resolute  Chacon,  "  that  we  all 
die  like  good  men,  and  true  in  your  defence,  and  you, 
eir,  with  us,  leaving  the  memory  of  this  brave  fight, 
than  submit  to  dishonor  and  a  death  of  shame.  Heed 
not,  sir,  these  safe-conducts,  worded  to  allow  of  double 
meaning,  and  trust  that  he  who  delivered  you  from  the 


DOHA    ISABEL    OF    PORTUOAL.  373 

lances  of  your  enemies  in  Medina  de  Carapo  and  Olme- 
do,  will  save  you  from  the  peril  of  this  day."  These 
brave  words  were,  however,  powerless  to  persuade  the 
now  disheartened  noble,  within  whose  breast  also  the 
deeply  rooted  spirit  of  loyalty  pleaded  against  resist- 
ance to  his  sovereign.  "  G-od  forefend,"  replied  the 
veteran,  "that  at  my  age,  on  the  brink  of  the  grave, 
after  forty  years  of  honor  and  power,  I  should  leave  to 
my  sons  the  stain  of  having  fought  against  the  stan- 
dard of  my  sovereign.  It  shall  be  with  me  as  God 
and  the  king  will  it,  and  in  the  king's  hands  shall  I 
place  myself."  The  messengers  having  returned  with 
his  answer  to  the  king,  Don  Alvaro  employed  the  little 
time  left  him  in  arranging  his  affairs.  Having  ordered 
his  chests  to  be  brought  to  him,  he  distributed  part  of 
the  treasures  contained  in  them  among  his  followers, 
leaving  the  remainder  to  the  king's  disposal,  burned 
part  of  his  papers,  bestowed  the  commandery  of  Usagre, 
then  vacant,  on  one  of  his  pages,  thus  making  use  for 
the  last  time  of  his  authority  as  Grand  Master  of 
Santiago.  This  done,  he  asked  for  a  hammer,  and 
with  his  own  hands  broke  and  defaced  his  seals,  that 
they  might  not  be  put  to  evil  uses  by  his  foes.  He 
also  named  the  two  pages  that  were  to  remain  in 
attendance  on  his  person,  and  charged  Chacon  with 
the  care  of  conducting  the  remainder  of  his  household 
to  his  wife  and  son,  entreating  they  would  continue 
their  faithful  service  to  his  family.  He  then  clothed 
himself  in  the  habit  of  his  order,  and  mounting  his 
horse,  awaited  the  return  of  those  to  whom  he  was  to 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

surrender.  At  the  noble  and  affectionate  farewell  he  ad- 
dressed to  his  followers,  they  melted  to  tears,  and  with 
cries  and  lamentations  vainly  sought  to  oppose 
his  departure.  "  Whither  go  ye  thus  without  us,  sir  ? 
With  you  will  we  also  go,  sir  ;  with  you  will  we  live 
or  die.  Leave  us  not  thus,  my  lord  !"  With  kind 
words,  Don  Alvaro  endeavored  to  sooth  and  inspire  them 
with  hopes  he  was  far  from  feeling,  until  the  arrival  of 
the  envoys  from  the  king  put  an  end  to  this  heart- 
rending scene. 

To  tell  the  many  insults  and  mortifications  with 
which  his  vindictive  enemies  vainly  sought  to  vex  and 
break  the  undaunted  spirit  of  the  noble  constable, 
would  fill  more  pages  than  the  limits  of  this  work 
allow.  Twelve  lawyers  and  several  barons  were 
assembled  to  try  him,  or  in  other  words,  to  condemn  him 
to  death  and  confiscate  his  property.  In  this  mock 
trial,  the  most  absurd  charges  were  made  against  him, 
and  the  spirit  and  letter  of  the  law  equally  disregarded. 
When  sentence  had  been  pronounced  on  him,  he  was 
removed  to  Valladolid.  None  of  the  attendants  being 
willing  to  tell  him  of  his  impending  fate,  it  was  con- 
trived that  on  the  way  two  friars  of  a  neighboring 
convent,  one  of  whom  was  a  celebrated  preacher  known 
to  Don  Alvaro,  should  join  the  escort  as  if  by  accident. 
Entering  into  conversation  with  the  prisoner,  the  monks 
introduced  the  subject  of  the  vicissitudes  of  fortune,  and 
the  folly  of  attaching  any  value  to  a  life  of  so  unstable 
a  tenure.  Don  Alvaro,  perceiving  the  drift  of  their  mo- 
rality, coolly  inquired  if  they  came  to  warn  him  to  pre- 


DOSfA    ISABEL    OF    PORTUGAL.  375 

pare  for  death.  "  While  life  endures,  we  all  are  journey- 
ing towards  death,"  replied  the  friar,  "  but  he  that  is  a 
prisoner  is  nighest  the  bourne,  and  you,  my  lord,  are 
sentenced  already."  "  While  a  man  remains  in  igno- 
rance of  his  fate,  he  may  fear  it,"  returned  the  grand 
master,  calmly ;  "  but  when  once  its  term  is  fixed,  death 
can  have  no  terrors  for  a  Christian,  and  ready  am  I  to  die 
if  such  be  the  king's  will."  With  the  same  firmness, 
Don  Alvaro  went  through  all  the  preparations  for  his 
execution,  making  his  will  and  settling  his  affairs. 

The  king  was  far  from  possessing  the  tranquillity  of 
mind  of  his  victim.  During  the  night  preceding  the 
execution  of  the  companion  of  his  youth,  the  friend  of 
his  manhood,  the  supporter  of  his  throne,  he  was 
greatly  agitated,  and  memory  brought  vividly  before 
him  the  services  of  long  years,  and  the  tried  affection 
of  the  doomed  man.  Once  or  twice  he  called  a  page 
and  bade  him  deliver  a  sealed  paper  to  Destuniga, 
doubtless  an  order  to  delay  the  execution,  and  as  often 
recalled  him,  and  took  it  from  him.  The  queen  being  in- 
formed of  his  perturbation,  hastened  to  his  apartment, 
and  remaining  with  him,  succeeded  in  preventing  him 
from  giving  way  to  his  remorseful  scruples.  With 
the  cunning  inspired  by  hatred,  she  artfully  recalled 
every  petty  occasion  on  which  the  great  mind  of 
the  constable  had  controlled  and  subdued  the  weak  and 
imbecile  faculties  of  his  master;  every  insignificant 
contradiction,  and  every  instance  of  careless  breach  of 
etiquette,  were  clothed  in  the  darkest  colors,  and  the 
years  of  past  thraldom  and  future  liberty  descanted  on 


376  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

with  eloquent  pertinacity  till  the  king  was  wearied 
and  silenced,  if  not  convinced,  and  resigned  himself  to 
allow  of  that  which  neither  his  heart  nor  his  reason 
approved. 

At  dawn  of  day,  on  the  second  of  June,  1453,  hav- 
ing attended  mass,  and  devoutly  received  the  sa- 
crament, the  grand  master  prepared  himself  for  the 
scaffold.  Having  asked  for  some  refreshment,  a  dish 
of  cherries  was  brought  to  him,  of  which  he  ate,  and 
then  drank  a  cup  of  wine.  He  then  mounted  a  mule 
and  attended  by  two  monks  and  the  officers  of  justice, 
he  was  paraded  through  the  streets,  preceded  by  a  her- 
ald vociferating,  "  This  is  the  justice  our  lord  the  king 
has  decreed  to  this  cruel  tyrant  and  usurper  of  the 
royal  crown,  and  to  punish  these  his  crimes  is  he  or- 
dered to  be  beheaded."  "  I  accept  this  humiliation  as 
a  penance  for  my  sins,"  said  the  prisoner. 

When  near  the  scaffold,  perceiving  in  the  crowd  a 
page  of  the  prince,  he  called  to  him.  "  Page,"  said 
he,  "tell  my  lord  the  prince,  to  give  his  servants  a 
better  guerdon  than  that  which  my  sovereign  has  be- 
stowed on  me."  Having  walked  around  the  platform 
twice,  as  though  he  would  have  spoken  to  the  crowd 
below,  he  drew  his  seal  ring  from  his  finger,  and  giv- 
ing it,  together  with  his  hat,  to  Morales,  one  of  the 
pages  who  had  waited  on  him,  bade  him  keep  them  as 
the  last  gift  he  would  receive  from  him.  The  page, 
on  this,  burst  into  tears,  in  which  he  was  immediately 
joined  by  all  the  spectators  of  this  sad  scene.  The  very 
populace  that  had  been  clamorous  for  the  death  of 


DOHA    ISABEL    OF    PORTUGAL.  377 

the  proud  and  powerful  lord,  now  struck  with  admiration 
at  the  quiet  dignity  with  which  he  submitted  to  his 
fate,  deeply  compassionating  his  sufferings. 

The  holy  men  exhorting  him  to  give  all  his 
thoughts  to  dying  like  a  Christian,  "  I  do,  indeed," 
said  Don  Alvaro ;  "rest  assured  I  die  in  the  faith  of 
the  martyrs."  The  executioner  then  produced  a  cord. 
"What  wouldst  thou  do  with  that?"  inquired  Don  Al- 
varo "  Bind  your  hands,  my  lord."  "  Nay,  use  not 
that  for  the  purpose,"  returned  the  noble,  drawing 
from  his  breast  a  silken  one  he  had  provided,  "  bind 
them  with  this,  and  see  that  thy  dagger  is  well  sharp- 
ened, that  thou  mayest  despatch  me  quickly.  Tell 
me,"  he  added,  "wherefore  is  yon  hook  in  the  post?" 
The  executioner  replying  that  it  was  intended  to  place 
his  head  on  after  it  was  severed.  "  Do  as  ye  will 
with  it,"  he  returned,  "  when  I  am  no  more ;  both  it 
and  my  body  are  but  clay."  These  were  his  last 
words.  Laying  his  head  on  the  block,  after  baring  his 
neck  with  his  own  hands,  the  executioner  gave  him 
the  kiss  of  peace,  then,  according  to  the  barbarous 
manner  of  that  day,  plunged  the  knife  into  his 
throat,  severed  the  head  from  the  body  and  placed 
it  on  the  spike,  where  it  remained  nine  days.  The  re- 
mains of  Don  Alvaro  were  at  first  privately  buried,  but 
years  after  his  death  they  were  removed,  and  pom- 
pously interred  by  his  faithful  follower,  the  gallant 
Chacon,  in  the  magnificent  sepulchre  he  had  caused 
to  be  erected  in  the  days  of  his  prosperity. 


378  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

Thus  perished  the  high  and  mighty  lord,  Don  Alvaro 
de  Luna,  high  constable  of  Castile,  grand  master  of 
Santiago,  conde  of  Santiestevan,  and  lord  of  innumera- 
ble towns,  castles  and  fortresses,  a  victim  to  the  faith- 
lessness of  his  king,  to  the  ingratitude  of  the  queen 
he  had  raised  to  the  throne,  and  to  the  jealousy  and 
envy  of  the  courtiers  whom  his  superiority  in  all  things 
mortified  and  cast  in  the  shade.  Much  has  been  said 
of  the  unmeasured  ambition  of  Don  Alvaro,  but  his 
ambition  to  govern  was  fully  equalled  by  his  ability 
to  do  so,  and  he  well  deserved  the  favor  shown  him  by 
the  sovereign,  to  whose  very  life  he  was  indispensable, 
as  the  sequel  will  show.  Of  the  numbers  whom  he 
had  enriched  and  honored,  but  few  ventured  to  raise 
their  voices  in  his  defence.  It  may  appear  to  the  reader 
that  more  than  the  just  proportions  have  been  allowed 
to  the  sketch  of  the  last  days  of  the  life  of  the  consta- 
ble, but  they  present  so  vivid  a  picture  of  the  times, 
bringing  before  us  not  only  the  events,  but  the  man- 
ners, habits,  and  principles  of  the  men  who  then 
flourished,  that  I  have  thought  it  might  not  prove 
uninteresting. 

From  the  period  of  his  minister's  death,  the  health 
of  the  king  declined  rapidly,  and  finding  his  end 
approaching,  he  removed  to  Valladolid,  where  the  queen 
then  was,  and  died  on  the  22d  of  July,  1454. 

The  grief  of  the  queen  at  the  loss  of  her  husband 
was  so  excessive  as  to  impair  her  reason,  and  from  that 
time  to  her  death,  which  took  place  on  the  15th  August, 
1496,  she  never  wholly  recovered  the  use  of  her  mental 


DOSA  JUANA  DE  PORTUGAL.  379 

faculties.  During  this  long  widowhood  of  forty-two 
years,  she  continued  to  reside  in  retirement  in  her  own 
town  of  Arevalo.  The  king,  her  step-son,  treated  her 
ever  with  great  respect,  allowing  her  a  body-guard  of 
two  hundred ;  and  her  own  children,  Isabel  and  Alfonso, 
resided  with  her  until  after  the  birth  of  the  daughter 
of  King  Enrique,  at  which  time  they  were  sent  for  by 
him,  to  reside  at  court.  Her  daughter,  afterwards 
queen  of  Castile,  frequently  visited  her  in  Arevalo, 
ministering  to  her  wants  with  her  own  hands. 


DONA  JUANA  DE  PORTUGAL. 
1455. 

REIGN  OF  ENRIQUE  IV.,  (THE  IMPOTENT.) 

I>  the  reign  of  Juan  II.  was  distracted  by  fierce 
civil  feuds,  no  less  so  was  that  of  his  equally  weak, 
but  less  refined  son.  Juan  neglected  the  administration 
of  public  affairs  to  indulge  his  taste  for  the  elegant 
pursuits  of  the  scholar,  the  poet,  and  the  musician, 
while  his  son,  when  scarcely  ont  of  his  childhood,  had 
rendered  himself  equally  unfit  to  govern  by  his  indul- 
gence in  the  gross  pleasures  of  the  voluptuary.  At 
the  age  of  fifteen,  worn  out  by  debauchery,  his 
physical  faculties  prostrated  by  early  excess,  and 
weakened  in  mind  as  well  as  body,  he  became  the  tool 
of  parasites,  a  rebellious  subject,  and  an  unnatural  son. 


380  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

The  only  qualities  which  his  most  partial  adherents 
and  chroniclers  could  find  to  praise  in  him,  were  his 
liberality  and  his  mildness  of  temper,  but  the  one 
degenerated  into  a  prodigality  that  exhausted  his 
treasury  and  left  him  penniless,  the  other  into  a  weak- 
ness fatal  to  himself  and  his  people. 

His  marriage  in  1440  with  the  amiable  princess  of 
Navarre,  celebrated  with  a  magnificence  unprecedented 
in  Castile,  (see  annals  of  the  preceding  reign,)  was, 
at  his  own  solicitation,  annulled,  thirteen  years  after- 
wards, on  grounds  the  most  humiliating  and  absurd.* 
After  the  iniquitous  sentence  by  which  the  prince  sought 
to  conceal  the  deplorable  effects  of  his  profligacy  had 
been  pronounced  by  the  bishop  of  Segovia,t  and  con- 
firmed by  the  supreme  pontiff,  taking  from  her  the 
jointure  settled  on  her,  and  reducing  her  to  a  poverty 
that  was  but  the  precursor  of  worse  evils,  Blanche 
returned  to  Navarre.  Left  heiress  of  that  kingdom 
in  1461,  by  the  death  of  her  unfortunate  brother, 
Charles,  prince  of  Viana,  and  destitute  of  power  to 
enforce  her  claim  against  her  ambitious  father  and 
sister,  the  inheritance  proved  her  ruin,  occasioning 
first,  the  loss  of  her  liberty,  and,  two  years  after,  that 
of  her  life,  in  1464.  (Vide,  annals  of  queens  of  Aragon, 
Juana  Enrique.) 

At  the  accession,  in  1454,  of   Prince  Enrique  to  the 

*  "  Dijose  que  mediaron  hechizos,  &c.,  &c.,  &c." 

Florez,  Regnas  Catolicas,  vol.  2,  p.  137. 
f  Declare  ser  nulo  el  matrimonio  por  impotencia  respectiva." 

Florez. 


DOS  A    JUAN  A    DE    PORTUGAL.  381 

throne,  the  people,  heartily  tired  of  the  late  long  strug- 
gle of  the  proud  and  powerful  aristocracy  against  the 
crown,  and  of  their  incessant  fluctuations  between 
suffering  from  the  encroachments  of  the  royal  prerog- 
ative, and  from  the  unrestrained  license  of  the  insolent 
nobles,  ventured  to  indulge  in  cheering  anticipations 
of  better  days  under  the  new  sovereign.  His  open- 
handed  generosity  contrasted  well  with  the  avarice  of 
Juan  during  his  last  years,  and  his  vices  were  excused 
as  the  foibles  of  an  uncontrolled  and  ardent  youth, 
whom  age  would  sober  down.  His  affability,  which 
led  him  to  a  familiar  intercourse  with  the  middling  and 
even  lower  ranks,  while  it  endeared  him  to  the  bulk  of 
the  people,  soon  rendered  him  an  object  of  contempt  to 
the  higher  classes,  while  his  want  of  spirit  and  perse- 
verance to  carry  out  his  plans,  caused  him  to  be  de- 
spised by  his  foreign  foes. 

In  the  first  year  of  his  reign,  Enrique  published  a 
crusade  against  the  Moors,  and  his  call  was  enthusi- 
astically responded  to.  Had  the  brilliant  preparations 
he  made  against  the  king  of  Grenada  been  followed 
by  decisive  and  vigorous  measures,  he  would  have  won 
golden  opinions  from  a  nation  with  whom  wars  against 
the  infidels  were  ever  popular.  But,  with  neither 
judgment  to  devise  or  direct  military  operations,  nor 
courage  to  carry  out  the  plans  of  others,  the  costly 
expedition  was  productive  of  no  satisfactory  result. 
The  war  proved  destructive  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
frontiers,  both  Moors  and  Castilians,  who  beheld  their 
harvests  destroyed  and  their  homesteads  burnt  to  tho 


382  THE     QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

ground,  without  compensating  advantages  to  either 
side. 

The  haughty  Castilian  barons,  disdaining  to  obey  a 
monarch  who  could  neither  win  their  admiration  nor 
compel  their  submission,  soon  renewed  the  tumultuous 
scenes  that  had  disgraced  the  preceding  reign,  and,  as 
cowardice  ever  provokes  aggression,  the  spirit  of  insub- 
ordination he  was  powerless  to  quell,  though  it  failed 
in  its  efforts  to  wrest  the  crown  from  his  brow,  harassed 
him  during  the  whole  course  of  his  life. 

Irritated  by  the  tame  policy  that  led  the  king  to 
content  himself  with  border  forays,  and  withdraw  his 
forces  whenever  an  engagement  offered,  wasting  his 
time  in  ravaging  the  enemy's  frontiers,  under  the 
pretence  "  that  he  prized  the  life  of  one  of  his  subjects 
beyond  those  of  a  thousand  Musulmans,"  several  of  his 
brave  and  impatient  barons  even  formed  a  conspiracy 
to  detain  the  person  of  the  sovereign  forcibly,  and 
compel  him  to  carry  on  the  war  with  energy.  But 
the  project  was  disclosed  too  soon  to  be  feasible. 

In  1455,  the  king  announced  to  his  council  his 
intention  of  soliciting  the  hand  of  the  princess  Juana, 
the  posthumous  daughter  of  Edward,  king  of  Portugal, 
and  sister  of  the  reigning  sovereign,  Alfonso  V.  The 
council  approving  the  king's  choice,  Don  Ferran  Lopez 
de  Lorden,  treasurer  of  the  church  of  Segovia,  chap- 
lain of  the  king,  and  member  of  his  council,  was  de- 
spatched to  Portugal,  with  full  powers,  and  so  diligently 
did  he  fulfil  his  instructions,  that  on  the  22d  January 
of  the  same  year  he  solemnly  espoused  the  princess  in 


DOSA  JUANA  DE  PORTUGAL.  383 

his  master's  name.  The  king  ratified  the  marriage 
contract  on  the  25th  of  February,  in  Segovia. 

So  eager  was  Enrique  to  obtain  this  bride  that  he 
consented  to  receive  her  without  a  dower,  obliging 
himself  to  provide  in  a  suitable  manner  for  the  main- 
tenance and  establishment  in  life,  according  to  their 
rank,  of  twelve  Portuguese  ladies,  whom,  together 
with  a  duena,  a  lady  of  the  bed-chamber,  and  a 
number  of  domestics  of  inferior  rank,  the  princess  was 
to  bring  with  her.  The  towns  of  Ciudad  Real  and 
Olmedo  were  assigned  as  her  jointure,  and  20,000 
golden  florins  besides. 

The  bride  was  to  be  on  the  frontiers  within  eighty- 
one  days  from  that  of  the  signing  of  the  contract,  and, 
having  accordingly  set  out,  accompanied  by  the  Count 
and  Countess  of  Alonguia,  she  was  met  in  Badajoz  by 
Don  Juan  de  Gruzman,  Duke  of  Medina  Sidonia,  uncle 
of  the  king,  with  a  numerous  and  brilliant  suite,  under 
whose  escort  she  proceeded  to  Cordova,  where  the  king 
awaited  her.  The  progress  of  the  princess  was  marked 
by  the  gay  and  splendid  pageants  with  which  she  was 
greeted  by  every  town  on  her  way.  When  within  a 
short  distance  of  the  town,  Enrique,  at  the  head  of  a 
number  of  nobles,  sallied  forth  to  receive  her,  and  the 
nuptial  rites  were  solemnized  on  the  21st  of  May,  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Seville,  assisted  by  the  Archbishop  of 
Tours,  ambassador  from  the  court  of  France.  The  court 
then  removed  to  Seville,  where  the  nuptial  festivities 
were  continued  with  great  magnificence,  and  the  usual 
entertainments  of  bull-fights,  and  the  game  of  reeds  and 


384  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

tilting.  A  great  tournament,  in  which  one  hundred 
knights  engaged,  fifty  against  fifty,  was  held  by  the  Duke 
of  Medina  Sidonia,  and  Don  Juan  Pacheco,  marquis  of 
Villena.  Having  spent  a  few  days  in  Seville,  the  king 
and  queen  set  out  on  a  progress  througl.  the  kingdom. 

The  state  kept  up  by  Enrique  exceeded  that  of  any 
of  his  predecessors,  his  body  guard  consisting  of  three 
thousand  six  hundred  lances,  well  equipped,  and  com- 
manded by  officers  of  high  rank.  The  court  was  fol- 
lowed by  many  nobles  and  gentlemen,  receiving  pay 
and  maintenance  from  the  king,  though  exercising  no 
functions.  The  royal  treasurer,  Diego  Arrias,  ven- 
tured one  day  to  remonstrate  on  the  extravagance  of 
maintaining  so  many  attendants  at  the  expense  of  the 
royal  coffers,  and  suggested  that  those  alone  who  were 
in  actual  service,  should  be  paid.  "  You  speak  as  be- 
comes Diego  Arrias,"  returned  Enrique,  "  but,  it 
behoves  me  to  act  as  a  king ;  the  treasures  of  kings 
should  not  be  hoarded,  but  liberally  dispensed  for 
the  happiness  of  their  subjects  ;  we  must  remunerate 
the  services  of  those  we  employ,  and  give  gratuitously 
to  those  we  do  not,  that  they  may  not  seek  their  sub- 
sistence by  means  that  would  bring  them  to  shame  ; 
and,  that  this  may  be  done  without  oppressing  my 
subjects  by  the  imposition  of  fresh  imposts,  I  give  my 
own  rents  and  treasures." 

The  king  was,  notwithstanding  this  pomp  in  his 
household,  personally  averse  to  ceremony,  and  would 
never  allow  his  hand  to  be  kissed  ;  but  the  homage 
he  was  ever  anxious  to  avjid  receiving  himself,  he 


DO5fA    JUAN  A    DE    PORTUGAL.  385 

was  most  desirous  should  be  paid  to  his  bride,  and 
during  the  royal  progress,  Juana  was  everywhere 
greeted  with  the  pompous  reception  of  the  entrance  in 
state,  under  the  royal  canopy,  usual  on  such  occasions, 
while  Enrique  entered  privately. 

The  court  having  in  1459  returned  to  Madrid,  the 
facilities  for  the  chase  afforded  by  its  adjoining  for- 
ests making  that  town  the  favorite  residence  of  En- 
rique, a  series  of  splendid  entertainments  were 
given  by  the  great  vassals  of  the  crown.  At  the  con- 
clusion of  one  of  these,  given  by  the  archbishop  of 
Seville,  Don  Alonzo  de  Fonseca,  two  vases  filled  with 
gold  rings  set  with  precious  stones,  were  placed  on 
the  table,  that  the  queen  and  her  ladies  might  each 
select  therefrom  as  their  tastes  dictated. 

Amid  the  lovely  Castilian  dames  by  whom  she  was 
surrounded,  and  who  contributed  not  a  little  to  render 
the  court  of  Enrique  as  gay  and  attractive  as  it  was 
splendid,  his  consort  bore  away  the  palm  of  beauty. 
Juana,  young,  lively  and  thoughtless,  by  the  brilliancy 
of  her  wit  and  the  grace  of  her  manners,  which  had 
made  her  the  delight  and  admiration  of  the  court  of 
Portugal,  fascinated  the  young  Castilian  nobles,  though 
her  sprightliness  was  rather  incompatible  with  the 
grave  formalities  of  the  elder.  One  or  two  events, 
however,  amid  the  perpetual  round  of  pleasure  in 
which  Enrique  sought  to  forget  his  duties,  occurred  to 
mar  the  domestic  happiness  of  the  royal  pair,  and  also 
to  sow  the  seeds  of  the  foul  suspicion  that  staining 


386  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

indelibly  the   queen's  honor,  subsequently  disinherited 
her  offspring. 

Among  the  ladies  who  had  accompanied  Juana  from 
Portugal  was  Dona  Gruiornar  de  Castro,  whose  rare 
beauty  distinguished  her  amid  the  bevy  of  fair  ones 
surrounding  their  lovely  mistress,  and  to  this  lady 
the  king,  greatly  to  the  surprise  of  all,  paid  atten- 
tions so  unequivocal  in  their  expression  as  finally  to 
arouse  the  jealousy  of  the  queen,  who,  quick-tempered 
and  unaccustomed  to  self-control,  took  the  earliest 
opportunity  of  manifesting  her  resentment  in  a  man- 
ner little  beseeming  a  lady  and  a  sovereign,  certainly, 
but  to  which  she  was  provoked  by  the  insolence  of  the 
favorite.  The  king  having  proclaimed  a  bull-fight,  in 
honor,  probably,  of  the  new  object  of  his  capricious 
fancy,  the  queen  peremptorily  prohibited  all  her  ladies 
from  attending  it,  and  bade  them  remain  in  the  inner 
apartments. 

Dona  Gruiomar,  presuming  on  her  intimacy  with 
the  king,  disregarded  her  mistress'  injunctions,  and, 
in  splendid  attire,  witnessed  the  games  from  a  balcony 
of  the  royal  palace,  overlooking  the  square  where  they 
were  performed.  Greatly  incensed  at  this  contempt 
of  her  authority,  the  queen,  forgetting  all  self-respect, 
awaited  at  the  foot  of  the  staircase  her  rival's  descent, 
and  seizing  her  by  the  hair  saluted  her  ears  with  cuffs 
as  sound  as  were  ever  bestowed  by  regal  and  feminine 
hands.  Enrique  in  person  came  to  the  rescue  of  the 
prostrate  dame,  and  highly  resenting  this  summary 
administration  of  justice,  forced  the  queen  to  relin- 


DO$A  JUANA  DE  PORTUGAL.  387 

quish  her  grasp,  and  flung  her  from  him.  From  rage, 
jealousy  and  mortification,  Juana  fainted.  Thinking 
it  well  to  prevent  the  repetition  of  such  scenes,  En- 
rique  removed  the  lady  from  court,  and  established 
her  in  a  village  within  two  leagues  of  Madrid,  where 
she  maintained  a  state  scarcely  less  than  regal.  This 
intrigue,  thus  acquiring  scandalous  notoriety,  pro- 
duced the  usual  effects  of  dividing  the  courtiers  into 
factions,  no  less  a  personage  than  the  archbishop  of 
Seville,  forgetful  of  all  decency,  openly  advocating 
the  cause  of  the  favorite,  while  the  marquis  of  Villena 
adhered  to  the  queen. 

Nor  was  this  the  only  instance  of  apparent  infidelity 
in  the  king.  Dona  Catalina  de  Sandoval  was  also  for 
some  time  the  object  of  his  preference,  but,  endowed  with 
neither  constancy  nor  prudence,  she  was  convicted  of 
bestowing  her  favors  on  another  lover,  and  the  enraged 
king  was  in  this  case  guilty  of  the  only  act  of  cruelty 
ever  perpetrated  by  his  orders.  His  rival  expiated  his 
presumption  with  the  loss  of  his  head.  His  vengeance 
went  no  farther,  for  though  Dona  Catalina  was  sent 
to  the  convent  of  San  Pedro  de  Las  Duenas,  in  Toledo, 
it  might  have  been  considered  rather  a  reward  than  a 
punishment,  the  abbess,  a  lady  of  high  rank  and 
spotless  fame  being  expelled,  and  her  post  bestowed 
on  the  king's  paramour,  under  pretence  that  "the 
strict  laws  of  the  order  had  fallen  into  desuetude  and 
must  be  restored  /" 

The  conduct  of  Enrique,  however,  could  scarcely 
be  adduced  to  palliate  the  levity  of  the  queen's,  her 


388  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

partiality  for  one  of  the  king's  favorites  becoming  so 
evident  as  to  give  rise  to  the  grossest  imputations. 
Enrique  himself  being  generally  supposed  not  only  to 
be  cognizant  of,  but  the  promoter  and  encourager  of 
the  intrigue.  His  reasons  for  pursuing  a  line  of  con- 
duct as  novel  as  it  was  degrading,  may  be  better  con- 
jectured than  explained  ;  but  the  suspicions  that  had 
been  entertained  at  the  period  of  his  first  marriage, 
never  having  been  wholly  dispelled,  now  acquired 
greater  strength  than  ever. 

Don  Beltran  de  la  Cueva,  the  supposed  recipient  of 
the  queen's  favors,  was  newly  risen  in  the  king's  grace. 
Endowed  with  uncommon  beauty,  enhanced  by  pol- 
ished manners  and  all  the  accomplishments  indispen- 
sable to  the  knight  aiming  at  success  with  the  fair, 
he  ascended  with  incredible  rapidity  to  the  possession 
of  high  honors,  great  wealth  and  unlimited  influence 
over  both  king  and  queen.  Of  his  gallantry  and  prow- 
ess an  instance  is  related  on  occasion  of  the  en- 
tertainments given  in  honor  of  the  ambassador  of  the 
duke  of  Brittany.  The  fetes,  which  lasted  four  days, 
were  exceedingly  brilliant,  and  commenced  with  a 
sumptuous  banquet  in  a  hunting  lodge  belonging  to 
the  king,  within  two  leagues  of  Madrid,  and  surround- 
ed with  dense  woods  stocked  with  game.  The  buffets 
were  garnished  with  gold  and  silver  plate  to  the 
amount  of  20,000  marks.  This  gorgeous  display 
proving  too  strong  a  temptation  for  the  honesty  of  two 
squires,  under  the  pretence  of  obeying  some  order  of 
the  master  of  the  revels,  and  in  the  guise  of  serving- 


DOSfA    JUANA    DE    PORTUGAL.  389 

men,  they  approached  a  side  board,  and  stole  several 
of  its  valuable  ornaments,  the  king  himself  being  an 
unobserved  and  silent  witness  of  their  movements 
When  subsequently  informed  of  the  loss,  he  coolly  re- 
plied, "  Those  who  committed  the  theft  were  probably 
in  want,  and,  as  it  was  better  they  should  steal  from 
me  than  from  any  one  else,  ye  need  not  seek  to  recover 
the  booty,  for  I  freely  allow  them  to  keep  it."  This 
kindness,  or  rather  weakness,  constantly  put  in  prac- 
tice by  Enrique,  occasioned  nearly  all  his  misfortunes. 
On  this  day  also,  was  held  a  tournament,  in  which 
twenty  cavaliers  engaged.  On  the  second  day  there 
was  a  race,  followed  by  the  game  of  reeds,  in  which 
one  hundred  nobles,  magnificently  attired,  took  part. 
The  third  day  was  taken  up  by  a  great  hunt,  on  foot 
and  on  horseback.  The  amusement  provided  on  the 
fourth  and  last  day  by  Don  Beltran  de  la  Cueva,  then 
majordomo  of  the  king's  household,  eclipsed,  in  point  of 
novelty,  if  not  also  in  splendor,  those  of  the  preceding 
days,  and  consisted  in  a  passage  of  arms  held  by  that 
noble  in  the  following  manner  :  In  the  road  through 
which  the  royal  cortege  was  to  return  to  Madrid,  an 
enclosure  was  constructed  with  gates  at  cither  side, 
at  the  entrance  of  which  were  stationed  certain 
guards  disguised  as  savages,  who,  as  the  nobles  ap- 
proached, each  leading  a  lady's  palfrey,  forbade  their 
passing  until  each  had  run  six  courses  with  the 
knight  challenger,  or  left  his  right  hand  glove 
as  a  forfeit.  A  carved  arch,  with  a  number  of 
golden  letters,  was  near  the  lists,  and  each  knight  who 


390  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

shivered  three  lances  was  allowed  to  take  therefrom 
the  initials  of  his  lady's  name.  Overlooking  the  lists 
were  three  platforms,  richly  decorated  ;  one  for  the 
king,  the  queen  and  her  ladies,  and  the  ambassador, 
the  second  for  the  grandees,  and  the  third  occupied  by 
the  judges,  and  on  each  sumptuous  collations  were 
served  to  the  occupants.  Though  he  concealed  the 
name  of  the  lady  in  whose  honor  he  contended,  so  gal- 
lantly did  Don  Beltran  bear  himself  that  the  king, 
charmed  with  his  prowess,  commemorated  the  day  by 
the  erection,  on  the  spot  where  his  feats  had  been 
achieved,  of  a  chapel  dedicated  to  St.  Jerome  ! 

Thus  did  continual  fetes  keep  the  mind  of  the  weak 
monarch  occupied,  veiling  with  garlands  the  abyss  to 
which  his  folly  was  conducting  him.  The  example  of 
a  dissolute  court  was  not  likely  to  be  lost  on  the  mid- 
dling and  lower  ranks,  who,  while  they  criticized  and 
condemned,  were  too  prone  to  imitate  as  far  as,  and  even 
beyond  what  their  means  would  allow,  the  licentious- 
ness and  extravagance  of  their  rulers,  first  ruining 
themselves,  then  seeking  to  retrieve  their  fortunes  by 
enlisting  under  the  banners  of  the  robber  chieftains  so 
numerous  in  that  age. 

Many  of  the  barons  fortifying  themselves  in  their 
castles,  and  setting  at  naught  the  king's  authority  and 
the  laws,  led  the  lives  of  freebooters,  occasionally 
sallying  forth  to  plunder  travellers  or  attack  some  vil- 
lage that  refused  to  acknowledge  their  rule.  One  of 
these  noble  land  pirates,  Don  Alonzo  Fajardo,  who, 
during  the  troubles  of  the  preceding  reign  had  contrived 


DOIJA    .1JANA    DE    PORTUGAL.  391 

to  increase  his  power  on  the  frontiers  of  Murcia  by  the 
addition  of  the  towns  of  Cartagena  and  Lorca,  with 
fortresses  pertaining  to  the  crown,  to  the  Marquisate 
of  Villena,  and  to  the  Grrandmastership  of  Santiago, 
actually  carried  on  a  traffic  with  the  Moors,  to  whom 
he  sold  the  Christian  prisoners  of  both  sexes  and  all 
ages  he  captured  in  his  expeditions.  The  king,  roused 
at  length  from  his  apathy,  sent  a  force  of  six  hundred 
horse  against  him,  and,  after  a  stout  resistance,  he  was 
compelled  to  surrender,  his  estates  were  confiscated, 
and  he  himself  was  barely  allowed  to  retain  a  life  he 
had  forfeited  by  unparalleled  crimes. 

Nor  were  the  spiritual  lords  free  from  the  contagion 
of  the  canker  of  vice  that  spread  through  every  class. 
Don  Rodrigo  de  Luna,  Archbishop  of  Santiago,  having 
endeavored  to  carry  off  a  young  bride  from  the  very 
midst  of  the  nuptial  festivities,  was  driven  from  his 
see  and  forced  to  end  his  days  in  a  miserable  exile ; 
not  indeed  by  the  proper  enforcement  of  the  outraged 
laws,  or  by  the  authority  of  the  sovereign,  but  by  an 
indignant  populace,  headed  by  Don  Luis  de  Osorio,  son 
of  the  Count  of  Trastamara. 

But  the  people,  while  they  slavishly  imitated  the 
vices  that  caused  their  misery  and  oppression,  had  still 
too  much  of  their  ancient  spirit  left  not  to  murmur 
impatiently  against  the  yoke  whose  weight  daily  in- 
creased ;  and  the  symptoms  of  the  coming  earthquake 
were  neither  few  nor  light.  The  king,  entirely  given 
up  to  sloth  and  pleasure,  abandoned  the  administration 
to  his  ministers.  Don  Juan  Pacheoo  and  the  Archbishop 


392  TF1K    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

of  Seville,  the  expression  of  his  will,  when  he  uttered 
it,  being  merely  that  of  his  minions ;  and  the  arbitrary 
and  unconstitutional  measures  that  had  caused  so 
much  displeasure  during  the  foregoing  reign  were  now 
renewed  with  even  less  attempt  at  disguise.  The  law, 
distorted  by  the  arbitrary  will  of  its  ministers,  was 
converted  into  a  tool  to  enact  every  species  of  injustice 
with  impunity. 

One  of  the  first  and  most  flagrant  acts  of  injustice 
that  contributed  to  alienate  the  nobles  from  the  king, 
was  his  treatment  of  the  Count  Don  Juan  de  Luna, 
nephew  of  the  great  constable.  This  noble,  one  of  the 
most  powerful  in  Castile,  was  the  guardian,  since  the 
death  of  her  father,  of  the  grand-daughter  of  the  con- 
stable, and  heiress  of  the  condado  of  Santiesteban. 
Instigated  by  his  chief  favorite,  Don  Juan  Pacheco, 
Marquis  of  Villena,  who,  anxious  his  son  should  marry 
the  heiress  and  enter  into  possession  of  her  vast  do- 
mains, persuaded  his  sovereign  that  Don  Juan  de  Luna 
was  disaffected,  and  by  his  position  could,  if  so  dis- 
posed, do  great  harm,  Enrique  determined  to  arrest 
and  imprison  the  conde.  With  the  cunning  of  weak 
minds,  he  masked  his  evil  designs  under  the  guise  of 
friendship,  and  repaired  to  Ayllon,  the  residence  of  the 
unsuspecting  noble,  under  pretence  of  honoring  him 
with  a  visit.  He  was  received  by  the  host  with  splen- 
did hospitality,  which  he  repaid  by  the  treacherous 
seizure  of.  his  entertainer,  when  the  latter,  having 
accompanied  -his  sovereign  beyond  his  own  gates,  was 
taking  a  courteous  leave.  The  king  ordered  his  pris- 


JUANA    DE    PORTUGAL.  393 

oner,  under  the  penalty  of  being  instantly  beheaded  if 
he  refused  to  comply,  to  give  up  all  his  fortresses, 
together  with  the  young  countess  and  her  domains 
Yielding  to  necessity,  the  count  complied,  and  the  king 
immediately  entered  into  possession,  placing  alcaldes 
of  his  own  in  the  several  castles.  The  estates  of  the 
countess,  by  her  subsequent  marriage  with  the  son  of 
Don  Juan  Pacheco,  contributed  to  the  increase  of  the 
already  formidable  power  of  the  house  of  Villena,  and 
thus  were  the  weakness  and  injustice  of  the  king  pre- 
paring his  own  ruin  by  the  concentration  of  so  much 
strength  in  one  man. 

Though  the  reign  of  Enrique  is  one  of  the  most 
inglorious  in  the  history  of  Spain,  considering  the 
means  he  possessed  and  the  causes  that  might  have 
excited  him  to  war,  some  brilliant  feats  of  personal 
valor  still  shine  forth  amid  the  dark  eclipse  that  veiled 
the  sun  of  Castile. 

In  1462,  the  Moors  of  the  kingdom  of  Grenada, 
either  tired  of  the  long  inaction  of  a  peace  that  had 
lasted  three  years,  or  despising  the  pusillanimous  ad- 
ministration  of  Enrique,  under  the  conduct  of  Muley 
Bulhacern,  one  of  the  king's  sons,  and  to  the  number  of 
two  thousand  five  hundred  horse  and  ten  thousand 
foot,  invaded  and  ravaged  the  town  and  territory  of 
Estepa,  making  a  number  of  prisoners,  and  taking  a 
large  booty,  consisting  mostly  in  cattle.  The  news  of 
this  inroad  reaching  Don  Rodrigo  Ponce  de  Leon,  eldest 
son  of  the  Count  of  Arcos,  the  gallant  youth  vowed  to 
intercept  their  retreat  and  retrieve  the  honor  of  Castile. 


394  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

Having  assembled  a  hundred  of  his  own  mounted 
retainers,  he  set  out  for  Estepa,  and  was  joined  on  the 
way  by  the  Alcalde  of  Osuna,  Don  Luis  de  Pernia,  with 
one  hundred  men.  As  they  passed  through  the  villages, 
on  their  way,  these  two  valiant  cavaliers  called  on  the 
inhabitants  to  join  them  against  the  common  foe,  and 
the  little  band  had  swelled  to  two  hundred  and  sixty 
horse  and  six  hundred  foot,  when  they  came  in  sight 
of  the  vanguard  of  the  Moors,  near  Pena-rubia.  On  the 
approach  of  the  Christians,  the  Moors  sent  to  encounter 
them  a  detachment  of  two  thousand  three  hundred 
horse,  all  picked  troops,  the  remainder  continuing  the 
retreat  with  their  plunder.  At  sight  of  the  immense 
numerical  superiority  of  their  enemies,  dismay  perva- 
ded the  little  band  of  Castilians,  but  the  undaunted 
leaders,  cheering  them  with  brave  words  and  no  less 
brave  example,  infused  new  spirit  into  their  hearts,  and 
with  the  banner  of  Don  Rodrigo  unfurled  and  trum- 
pets sounding,  they  advanced  intrepidly  to  what  seem- 
ed certain  death.  For  some  time  the  battle  raged 
without  any  apparent  advantage  on  either  side,  but 
the  reckless  valor  of  ihe  Christians,  who  fought  with 
the  conrage  of  despair  for  their  homes,  their  property, 
their  faith,  and  life  itself,  finally  gained  the  field,  and 
the  Moors,  who  had  from  the  first  been  surprised  and 
shaken  by  the  furious  onset  of  the  Christians,  at  length 
gave  way,  and  fled  precipitately  on  all  sides.  The 
panic  of  the  fugitives  communicating  itself  to  the 
party  that  had  gone  on  before,  they  doubtless  thought 
an  army  was  in  pursuit  of  them,  and  abandoning  their 


DOHA  JUANA  DB  PORTUGAL.  395 

charge,  made  a  prompt  retreat.  Don  Rodrigo  having 
assembled  his  men,  found  his  loss  to  amount  to  thirty 
of  the  cavalry  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  infantry 
slain,  while  that  of  the  Moors  was  one  thousand  four 
hundred  men  left  dead  on  the  field.  On  the  following 
morning  a  cloud  of  dust  at  a  short  distance  induced 
at  first  the  belief  that  the  Moors  were  returning,  but 
it  proved  to  be  the  flocks  and  herds,  that  with  the  in- 
stinct of  their  nature,  were  returning  to  seek  their 
wonted  pasturage.  The  banners  of  the  Moorish  prince 
and  rich  spoils  were  collected  by  the  victors,  and  this 
signal  achievement  was  celebrated  with  great  rejoicings 
and  solemn  processions  in  Madrid  and  other  towns. 

In  the  spring  of  this  year,  Juana,  whose  levity  had 
become  notorious,  and  who  was  now  in  the  eighth 
year  of  her  marriage,  gave  unequivocal  hopes  of  soon 
becoming  a  mother,  to  the  unbounded  delight  of  the 
king,  whose  anxious  wish  for  issue  had  been  gratified 
by  none  of  his  mistresses,  and  who  now,  in  token  of 
his  satisfaction  at  the  prospect,  immediately  bestowed 
on  his  consort  the  town  of  Aranda,  where  she  was  then 
residing.  Enrique,  being  desirous  that  the  queen's 
confinement  should  take  place  in  Madrid,  she  was 
placed  in  a  litter,  and  removed  thither  with  all  thn 
care  her  situation  required,  and  in  six  months  after 
gave  birth  to  a  princess  called  Juana  after  her  mother, 
but  subsequently  designated  as  La  Excelentisima 
Senora,  and  by  the  populace,  by  the  less  honorable  but 
significant  appellation  of  La  Beltraneja,  in  allusion  to 
her  reputed  father,  Bon  Beltran  de  la  Cueva.  The 


396  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

ceremony  of  the  baptism  took  place  eight  days  after 
the  birth,  with  great  pomp,  in  the  palace  chapel,  the 
Archbishop  of  Toledo  officiating,  assisted  by  the  bish- 
ops of  Calahorra,  Cartagena  and  Osma.  The  spon- 
sors were  the  count  of  Armagnac,  French  ambassador, 
the  Marquis  of  Villena,  the  king's  young  sister,  the 
infanta  Isabel,  and  the  Marchioness  of  Villena.  The 
count  de  Alva  de  Lista  had  the  honor  of  holding  the 
royal  babe  during  the  ceremony.  The  event  was  cele- 
brated with  great  rejoicings  throughout  the  kingdom, 
and  the  cortes  were  convened  two  months  after  to  ten- 
der the  customary  oaths  of  allegiance  to  the  princess 
as  heiress  apparent  to  the  crown,  on  which  occasion 
the  Archbishop  of  Toledo  held  her  in  his  arms.  The 
infantes  Isabel  and  Alfonso  were  the  first  to  take 
the  oath  and  kiss  the  hand  of  her  whom  they  now 
acknowledged  as  their  future  sovereign,  but  from  whom 
each  in  turn  was  to  take  the  crown,  and  their  example 
was  unhesitatingly  followed  by  all  the  clergy,  nobility 
and  deputies  ;  nor  did  one  dissenting  voice  oppose  this 
act  of  homage,  though  so  many  of  those  then  present, 
subsequently  affirmed  they  had,  at  the  time,  privately 
protested  against  it. 

Within  a  year  after  the  birth  of  this  daughter,  an 
incident  as  singular  as  it  is  incredible,  is  gravely  related 
by  all  the  chroniclers  of  that  reign.  As  Juana,  then 
far  advanced  in  her  second  pregnancy,  was  sitting  at 
the  window  of  her  apartment  in  Aranda,  she  was 
thrown  into  considerable  alarm  by  the  sudden  ignition 
of  her  hair  by  the  rays  of  the  sun.  Prompt  assistance 


DONA  JUANA  DE  PORTUGAL.          397 

was  rendered  by  her  ladies  ere  any  material  damage 
to  the  queen's  person  had  resulted  from  this  extraor- 
dinary conflagration,  but  the  fright  occasioned  the 
premature  delivery  of  a  still-born  male  infant. 

Soon  after  the  birth  of  the  princess,  the  king  had 
bestowed  on  his  favorite,  Don  Beltran  de  la  Cueva,  the 
title  of  Count  of  Ledesma,  and  he  also  procured  for 
him  the  hand  of  the  youngest  daughter  of  the  Marquis 
of  Santillana.  The  nuptials  were  celebrated  with  great 
magnificence  and  graced  by  the  presence  of  the  royal 
family.  Such  high  honors,  conferred  on  a  man  raised 
from  nothing  over  the  heads  of  the  ancient  nobles, 
greatly  increased  the  discontent  of  the  latter,  and 
hastened  the  outbreak  of  a  warfare  the  most  strange, 
unprincipled  and  unrelenting,  yet  excusable,  if  not 
justifiable,  if  we  take  into  consideration  the  turpitude 
of  a  corrupted  court  and  its  imbecile  head.  Among 
those  who  felt  themselves  especially  aggrieved  by  the 
king's  partiality  for  the  favorite,  were  the  Marquis  of 
Villena  and  his  uncle,  the  Archbishop  of  Toledo,  and 
their  rage  knew  no  bounds  when  Don  Beltran  was 
openly  called  to  share  with  them  the  administration. 
The  important  part  enacted  by  these  two  ministers  in 
all  the  transactions  that  occurred  during  this  reign, 
entitle  them  to  some  notice  here. 

Pacheco,  of  noble  Portuguese  parentage,  had  been 
a  page  in  the  household  of  Don  Alvaro  de  Luna, 
who  procured  him  a  similar  post  in  that  of  Prince 
Enrique.  Though  greatly  inferior  in  many  re- 
spects to  his  first  great  master,  Paoheco  possessed  a 


398  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

smooth  insinuating  manner,  and  a  certain  tact  in  po- 
litical intrigue  that  soon  won  the  favor  of  his  new 
master,  who  found  him  an  agreeable,  a  useful,  and 
soon  an  indispensable  companion.  Crafty,  ambitious, 
and  restless,  he  followed  to  the  letter  the  Machiavellian 
maxim  of  diviser  pour  reg-ner,  and  took  care  to  keep 
his  lord  continually  embroiled  in  discussions  with  his 
father.  Now  siding  with  the  enemies  of  the  sovereign, 
now  with  the  sovereign  himself,  civil  war  was  his  ele- 
ment. Created  Marquis  of  Yillena  by  Don  Juan  II., 
his  extensive  domains  rendered  him  second  in  power 
to  the  king  alone. 

Don  Alfonso  Carillo,  the  archbishop,  was  one  of 
those  warrior  prelates  so  frequently  met  with  in  that 
and  the  preceding  ages,  who  felt  far  more  at  ease  in 
the  martial  array  of  the  knight  than  in  the  peaceful 
robes  of  the  churchman.  Ambitious  and  proud,  as 
eager  to  advance  the  interests  of  his  friends  as  to  foil 
the  schemes  of  his  adversaries,  unyielding  and  perse- 
vering, his  firmness  contributed  no  less  than  his  power 
to  win  him  success  in  his  undertakings.  Little  could 
these  two  haughty  nobles,  the  most  turbulent  spirits 
of  those  turbulent  times,  accustomed  as  they  were  to 
rule  with  despotic  sway  the  sovereign  and  the  nation, 
brook  the  interference  of  a  third  partner  to  share  the 
administration. 

In  1464,  Enrique,  who  had  taken  part  with  the 
Prince  of  Viana  against  his  father,  Juan  II.  of  Aragon, 
and  assisted  the  Catalans  in  their  rebellion,  with  men 
and  money,  on  the  death  of  the  prince  was  offered  by 


DOSfA    JUANA    DE    PORTUGAL.  399 

them  the  sovereignty  of  that  province.  But,  following 
the  advice  of  his  false  minister,  the  king,  whom  not 
even  the  pathetic  appeal  of  his  cousin  and  former  wife, 
the  hapless  Blanche,*  could  arouse  to  any  act  of  deci- 
sion, abandoned  the  Catalans  and  made  peace  with 
Aragon,  thus  neglecting  a  legitimate  and  favorable 
opportunity  of  extending  his  dominions. 

The  diplomatic  talents  of  the  politic  Juana  Enriquez, 
queen  of  Aragon,  contribute  no  little  to  matters  being 
settled  so  advantageously  to  her  husband.  On  the 
arrival  of  the  Marquis  of  Villena,  in  Saragossa,  as  am- 
bassador of  Castile,  he  found  the  king  had  left  for 
Catalonia,  and  deputed  the  queen  to  entertain  him 
during  an  absence  that  was  to  be  of  short  duration. 
Juana  having  received  the  marquis  with  the  grace  and 
affability  for  which  she  was  noted,  invited  him  to  dine 
tete  a  tete  with  her  on  the  following  day,  when  the 
noble  found  himself  entertained  by  his  royal  hostess, 
and  waited  on  by  none  but  ladies,  and  those  of  the 

*  This  ill-fated  princess,  when  on  her  forced  journey  to  the  castle 
of  Ortes  in  Bearne,  whither  her  implacable  and  remorseless  foes 
were  hurrying  her,  feeling  that  she  was  on  the  way  to  captivity 
and  death,  found  means  to  write  to  Enrique,  from  St.  Jean  Pie  du 
Port,  a  letter  couched  in  terms  that  might  have  softened  the  hard- 
est heart  and  infused  courage  into  the  most  pusillanimous,  but,  being 
addressed  to  one  little  better  than  an  idiot,  failed  to  have  any  effect. 
Recalling  the  days  of  peaceful  happiness  she  had  spent  under  his 
protection,  she  invoked  his  assistance,  and  made  over  to  him  her 
claims  on  Navarre,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Count  and  Countess  of 
Foix,  of  whose  murderous  intentions  she  had  but  too  true  a  forebo- 
ding. 


400  THE    QUEEN'S    OF    SPAIN. 

highest  distinction.  Each  day  was  marked  by  some 
new  attention  to  him,  until  the  arrival  of  the  king 
allowed  of  the  settlement  of  the  business  that  had 
brought  him  there,  and  the  marquis,  intoxicated  with  the 
flattery  so  delicately  administered,  and  disgusted  with 
the  partiality  of  Enrique  for  Don  Beltran,  was  easily 
won  to  sacrifice  his  sovereign's  interests  to  the  crafty 
Juan  of  Aragon. 

Enrique,  though  he  had  made  no  inconsiderable 
conquests  in  Catalonia,  was  induced  to  refer  the  arbi- 
tration of  the  difference  between  himself  and  Juan  to 
the  king  of  France,  and  the  latter  sent  an  ambassador 
to  arrange  the  preliminaries  of  an  interview.  At  a 
ball  given  on  the  occasion  of  his  reception,  the  envoy 
Juan  de  Rohan,  lord  of  Montaloan,  and  admiral  of 
France,  was  honored  with  the  hand  of  the  queen  as  his 
partner  in  the  dance ;  a  favor  the  gallant  Frenchman 
appreciated  so  highly  that  he  made  a  solemn  vow  never 
1  o  dance  with  another  woman. 

The  conference  between  the  kings  of  France  and 
Castile  took  place  near  Bayonne,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Bidasoa,  that  river  dividing  their  several  dominions. 
A  strange  contrast  was  exhibited  between  the  two  sove- 
reigns, not  only  in  their  own  persons,  but  also  in 
those  of  their  followers,  and  everything  pertaining  to 
them.  The  avaricious  and  crafty  Luis  the  XI.,  dressed 
in  the  mean,  coarse  attire  that  formed  his  usual  cloth- 
ing, was  followed  by  a  suite,  who,  imitating  with 
courtier-like  servility,  their  sovereign,  adopted  a  simi- 
lar style  of  costume,  while  Enrique  the  IV.,  appareled 


DOSfA    JUANA    DE    PORTUGAL.  401 

in  the  rich  and  becoming  Spanish  garb  of  that  day, 
was  attended  by  his  Moorish  guard,  splendidly  equip- 
ped, and  by  a  train  of  nobles  whose  dress  and  equipage 
were  of  the  most  gorgeous  and  costly  description. 
The  favorite  of  the  Castilian  monarch  distinguished 
himself  by  the  splendor  of  his  jewel-studded  dress,  his 
very  boots  being  embroidered  with  pearls,  and  his 
barge  decked  with  cloth  of  gold,  and  sails  of  brocade. 

The  two  sovereigns  having  doffed  their  bonnets, 
embraced  with  much  apparent  cordiality,  neither  sit- 
ting down  during  the  interview;  a  fine,  large-sized 
greyhound  stood  between  them,  on  which  both  kept 
their  hands.  Luis,  in  his  quality  of  mediator,  pro- 
nounced that  Enrique  should  renounce  Catalonia,  give 
up  the  territory  he  had  conquered,  and  receive,  as  a 
remuneration,  the  town  of  Estepa,  with  its  jurisdiction 
in  Navarre,  and  the  sum  of  50,000  doblas  within  six 
months.  The  queen  of  Aragon  was  to  be  left  as  hos- 
tage for  the  fulfilment  of  these  conditions,  and  to  re- 
side until  they  wore  executed,  in  the  town  of  Lanaga 
in  Navarre,  under  the  charge  of  the  Archbishop  of 
Toledo.  None  of  the  conditions  were  performed,  nor 
in  all  probability  had  any  intention  of  performing 
them  been  entertained. 

This  tame  relinquishment  of  advantages  already 
secured  was  extremely  unsatisfactory  to  the  Castilians, 
who  loudly  accused  the  ministers,  Don  Juan  Pacheco 
and  the  archbishop,  of  having  sold  the  interests  of  king 
and  country.  Even  the  king  perceived  at  length  his 
error,  and  dismissing  his  false  counsellors  from  their 


402  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

office  of  trust,  attempted  to  retrieve  matters  by  sending 
to  the  Catalans  a  retractation  of  his  refusal  to  head  their 
revolt,  and  a  promise  to  come  forthwith  to  their  assis- 
tance, with  a  large  body  of  troops.  But  his  recanta- 
tion was  tardy ;  the  indignant  Catalans  had  already 
offered  their  allegiance  to  Don  Pedro,  the  constable  of 
Portugal. 

The  king,  daily  more  disgusted  with  the  conduct  of 
the  marquis  and  archbishop,  whose  plots  he  more  than 
suspected,  resolved,  without  communicating  his  plans 
to  them,  to  effect  an  alliance  with  Portugal.  To  this 
effect  an  interview  was  arranged  with  that  king,  at 
which  were  present  the  queen  and  the  infantes,  Isabel 
and  Alfonso,  and  the  hand  of  the  young  infanta  was 
promised  to  the  Portuguese. 

Meantime  the  ex-ministers  were  not  idle.  Having 
formed  with  the  disaffected  nobles,  of  whom  there 
were  not  a  few,  a  coalition  which,  from  the  power  and 
wealth  of  some  of  its  members,  was  truly  formidable, 
they  assembled  at  Burgos  and  declared  that  the  oath 
of  allegiance  they  had  sworn  to  the  Princess  Juana 
was  compulsory,  and  that  they  recognized  no  legiti- 
mate heir  nearer  to  the  throne  than  the  infante  Alfon- 
so, whom  they  required  Enrique  to  place  in  their 
hands  to  be  publicly  sworn  as  his  successor.  The 
Marquis  of  Villena  exasperated  beyond  the  limits  or 
all  prudence,  by  the  king's  bestowal  of  the  grand 
mastership  of  Santiago  on  the  Count  of  Ledesma,  made 
no  less  than  three  bold  attempts  to  seize  his  rival  and 
the  whole  of  the  royal  family,  each  of  which  was  ren- 


DORA  JUANA  DE  PORTUGAL.  403 

dered  abortive  by  the 'vigilance  of  some  of  Enrique's 
faithful  servants.  A  little  timely  energy  would  doubt- 
less have  crushed  the  conspiracy  in  the  bud.  and,  had 
the  king  seized  the  marquis,  who  was  actually  in  the 
royal  palace  when  information  was  brought  of  two 
schemes  for  the  abduction  of  the  royal  family,  and  used 
the  severity  the  culprit  had  so  manifestly  incurred,  he 
would  have  saved  himself  from  a  long  series  of  insults. 
Provided  as  he  still  was  with  ample  means,  sur- 
rounded by  numerous  and  loyal  vassals,  brave  and 
well-equipped  troops,  the  pusilanimity  evinced  by  En- 
rique is  almost  incredible.  Having  assembled  his 
council  to  consult  on  the  conduct  to  be  observed  to- 
wards the  rebels,  all  were  of  opinion  that  the  king 
should  pay  no  attention  to  their  insolent  demands,  but 
employ  force  to  reduce  them.  The  venerable  and 
learned  Archbishop  of  Cuen9a,  who  had  been  the  king's 
preceptor,  was  especially  urgent  that  strong  measures 
should  be  adopted.  The  advice  was  too  much  in 
opposition  to  the  weak,  wavering  nature  of  Enrique 
to  be  relished  by  him.  "  Those  who  are  not  called  on 
to  peril  their  own  lives  are  prodigal  of  the  blood  of 
others,"  said  he  ;  "  it  is  easy  to  see  that  those  who  are 
to  fight  are  not  your  children,  or  you  would  bo  more 
chary  of  endangering  them ;  these  matters,  father 
bishop,  are  to  be  treated  in  another  fashion  than  ye 
would  propose  and  vote  for."  To  this  the  churchman 
replied,  with  more  truth  and  warmth  than  breeding,  "I 
plainly  perceive,  sire,  that  ye  have  no  mind  to  reign 
in  peace  and  freedom,  and,  since  your  highness  will 


404  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

neither  defend  your  honor,  nor  revenge  an  outrage,  I 
will  live  to  see  you  the  most  degraded  king  that  ever 
reigned  in  Spain,  and  to  see  you  repent,  but  too  late, 
this  cowardice." 

Enrique  was  not  to  be  moved  by  the  advice,  entrea- 
ties, or  remonstrances  of  his  wise  adherents,  and, 
notwithstanding  all  they  could  say,  entered  into  a  ne- 
gotiation with  the  coalition.  In  the  interview  he  had 
with  the  leaguers,  he  even  surprised  them  by  the 
ready  servility  with  which  he  complied  with  all  their  de- 
mands. He  consented  that  his  young  brother  Alfonso 
should  be  declared  heir,  that  Don  Beltran  should  re- 
nounce the  grand  mastership  of  Santiago  in  his  favor, 
and  that  he  would  within  twelve  days  place  the  young 
Alfonso  in  their  hands.  The  leaguers,  on  their  side, 
promised  that  Alfonso  should  marry  the  princess 
Jxiana. 

These  were  the  principal  items  of  this  most  shameful 
treaty.  The  king  then  returned  to  Segovia,  whore 
the  royal  family  then  was.  His  faithful  friends  ear- 
nestly besought  him  to  reconsider  the  matter,  nor  give 
up  his  brother  to  the  conspirators,  who,  they  warned 
him,  only  wanted  him  to  raise  him  to  the  throne. 
But  advice  and  warning  were  equally  useless  with  the 
cowardly  Enrique,  who  was  resolved  at  any  cost  to 
avoid  war,  and,  early  in  the  year  1465,  the  conditions 
stipulated  on  his  part  were  punctually  fulfilled.  As 
might  have  been  expected,  these  concessions  served 
only  to  increase  the  insolence  of  the  leaguers  who 
refused  to  disband  their  troops.  The  town  of  Vallado- 


DOtfA    JUANA    OF    PORTUGAL.  405 

lid  also  declared  against  the  king,  and  the  rebels  con- 
ducted the  young  infante  to  Avila  to  proclaim  him 
king  of  Leon  and  Castile. 

In  the  open  plain  near  the  city,  a  high  scaffolding, 
sustaining  a  platform,  was  erected,  and  on  it  was 
placed  a  throne,  on  which  was  seated  an  effigy  of  En- 
rique, dressed  in  mourning  robes,  with  the  crown, 
sceptre,  and  other  attributes  of  royalty.  A  herald 
then  ascended  the  platform  and  in  a  loud  voice  read 
the  charges  brought  against  the  king,  disabling  him 
from  exercising  the  royal  prerogatives. 

At  the  first  accusation,  declaring  Enrique  unworthy 
of  royalty,  Don  Alfonso  Carillo,  the  archbishop  of 
Toledo,  approached  the  effigy  and  tore  the  crown  from 
its  head.  At  the  second,  declaring  him  unfit  to  ad- 
minister justice,  Don  Alvaro  de  Zuniga  took  the  sword 
from  its  side  ;  at  the  third,  pronouncing  his  political 
incapacity,  Don  Rodrigo  Pimentel,  Count  of  Benevente, 
deprived  it  of  the  sceptre ;  at  the  fourth,  declaring  he 
had  forfeited  the  throne,  Don  Diego  Lopez  de  Zuniga 
hurled  the  image  into  the  dust,  amid  shouts  of  deri- 
sion and  loud  insults.  The  nobles  then  raising  the 
infante  Don  Alfonso  on  their  shoulders,  the  cry  of 
Castile,  Castile,  for  the  king,  Don  Alfonso !  pro- 
claimed his  accession.  Having  seated  him  on  the 
throne,  each  lord,  in  turn,  kissed  his  hand  in  token  of 
homage,  the  Marquis  of  Villena  being  the  first  to  seal 
his  treason  to  his  liege  lord. 

The  king  received  the  news  of  this  unparalleled 
insolence  with  extraordinary  calmness,  merely  saying, 


406  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

"  Truly  may  I  repeat  the  words  of  the  prophet  Isaiah, 
'  I  have  nourished  and  brought  up  children,  and  they 
have  rebelled  against  me.'  But  though  they  have 
destroyed  an  image,  they  have  no  power  to  destroy 
the  reality  embodied  in  my  person,  and  to  Jesus,  the 
Judge  of  kings,  do  I  submit  my  cause,  for  he  krioweth 
my  innocence." 

While  the  weak  monarch  consoled  himself  under  his 
disgrace  with  biblical  sentences,  the  league  was  mak- 
ing daily  conquests,  fortress  after  fortress  submitting 
to  it.  The  large  cities  of  Burgos,  Toledo,  Cordova, 
and  Seville,  declared  for  the  insurgents.  The  domains 
of  the  principal  lords  of  the  league  being  situated  in 
the  southern  provinces,  these  favored  the  party  of 
Alfonso.  The  news  of  the  defection  of  so  large  a  por- 
tion of  his  subjects,  which  would  have  roused  some 
spirits  to  acts  of  daring,  and  crushed  others  to  the 
very  earth,  merely  elicited  from  Enrique  a  quotation 
from  Job,  which  the  miserable  sovereign  was  well  jus- 
tified in  applying  to  himself.  "  Naked  came  I  from 
my  mother's  womb,  and  naked  must  I  go  down  to  the 
earth !" 

The  country  meanwhile  was  in  a  state  of  dire  con- 
fusion from  one  extremity  to  the  other.  While  pre- 
senting the  sight,  unprecedented  in  Castile,  of  two 
sovereigns  reigning  at  once  with  all  the  attributes  of 
royalty,  issuing  decrees,  convoking  Cortes,  and  exercis- 
ing all  the  functions  of  government,  rule,  legislation 
and  law  were  by- words  of  mockery  and  cloaks  for 
crime.  Large  bands  of  robbers  openly  infested  the 


D03U    JITA.VA    DE    PORTUGAL.  40? 

highways,  and  levied  their  contributions  on  the  country 
people,  who,  in  turn,  confederated  for  the  defence  of 
their  property,  and  soon   growing  insolent  as  they  in- 
creased in  strength,  even  attempted  to  gain  immunity 
from  their  regular  taxation  by  waging  war  with  their 
feudal   lords.     The  ktter,   however,   backed   as  they 
were  by    numerous  well-armed    and  well-disciplined 
troops  of  retainers,  easily   foiled   these  ill-planned  at- 
tempts.    Many  of  the  old  nobles,  alarmed  at  the  con- 
vulsed state  into  which   the  factions  had  thrown  the 
nation,  which  seemed  on   the  eve  of  perishing  in  the 
whirlwind  of  anarchy,  and  disgusted  with  the  arbitrary 
proceedings  of  the  league,  pitying,  too,  the  miserable 
monarch,  whose  weakness  rather  than  vices  had  reduced 
him  thus    low,  began    to  rally    round  the  legitimate 
occupant  of  the  throne.      The    king   having  issued  a 
proclamation  calling  all  the  loyal  subjects  1o  his  aid, 
Don   Grarci   Alvarez,  Count  of  Alva,  was  the   first  to 
respond  to  the  summons,  with  three  hundred  men-at- 
arms,  two  hundred  horse,  and  a  thousand  foot  soldiers. 
The  queen  was  despatched   to   Portugal,  accompanied 
by  the  infanta  Isabel,  to  solicit  aid  from  her  brother, 
and  the  king  removed  to  Zarnora,  where  he  was  joined 
by  the  Count  of    Trastamara   with  two  hundred  foot 
soldiers  and  as  many  horse,  by  the  Count  of  Valencia 
with  one  hundred  men-at-arms  nnJ  two  hundred  horse, 
and  many  other  nobles,  who,  hoping  to  restore  order, 
flocked  to  the  standard  of  the  king.     The  ;'  good  Count 
of   Haro,"  the  ever  faithful  and  powerful  Mendozas, 
the  Marquis  of    Santillana,  whose  immense  estates  in 


408  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

the  north  gave  him  great  influence  there,  through 
every  storm  had  adhered  to  the  king,  and  the  army 
that  now  assembled  for  the  defence  of  his  rights, 
amounting  to  no  less  than  eighty  thousand  infantry 
and  fourteen  thousand  cavalry,  far  outnumbering  the 
forces  of  the  insurgents,  would  have  ensured  complete 
triumph  to  his  cause,  had  not  his  imbecility  and  cow- 
ardice again  ruined  it,  and  dashed  the  hopes  of  the 
true  hearts,  who  sought  to  give  peace  to  their  distracted 
country.  The  wretched  instrument  by  which  they 
endeavored  to  achieve  their  laudable  purpose,  frustrated 
all  their  well-concerted  measures,  and  wantonly  threw 
away  every  chance  of  securing  his  tottering  throne. 

Meantime  Enrique  ha4  dispatched  two  trusty  officers 
with  three  hundred  horse  to  bring  the  little  princess 
Juana  from  Segovia,  and  she  accordingly  made  her 
entrance  in  state  into  Zamora,  under  the  royal  canopy, 
with  the  customary  homage  paid  to  the  heir-apparent 
of  the  crown.  Every  succeeding  day,  while  it  added 
strength  to  the  king's  party,  weakened  that  of  the 
enemy.  The  Marquis  of  Villena,  who  had  thought 
by  elevating  a  child  to  the  throne  to  reign  under  his 
name,  finding  his  ambitious  plans  checked  by  his  con- 
federates, no  less  eager  than  himself  for  power,  now 
endeavored  to  counterbalance  their  influence  by  in- 
triguing with  the  royal  party,  and  thus  securing  also 
an  asylum  in  case  of  a  defeat.  The  crafty  marquis 
was  too  well  acquainted  with  the  easy,  apathetic  na- 
ture of  his  master,  to  doubt  of  his  eagerly  embracing 
any  means  he  might  offer  of  conciliating  the  difference 


JUANA    DE    PORTUGAL.  409 

between  them,  and  the  event  showed  he  judged  rightly. 
The  debased  sovereign  stooped  to  negotiate  with  the 
rebel,  and  accepted  the  humiliating  proposal  of  uniting 
his  sister  Isabel  to  Don  Pedro  Giron,  Grand  Master  of 
Calatrava,  and  brother  of  the  Marquis,  the  latter 
agreeing  to  come  over  to  the  king  with  three  thousand 
lances,  to  lend  him  seventy  thousand  doblas,  and  to 
place  his  young  brother  Alfonso  in  his  hands.  The 
king,  moreover,  was  to  send  from  his  court  the  Duke 
of  Alburquerque  and  the  bishop  of  Calahorra.  The 
king's  adherents  were  justly  incensed  at  this  shameless 
treaty,  but  the  death  of  the  Grand  Master  soon  dissi- 
pated the  hopes  of  the  rebels.  That  noble  having, 
despite  the  open  refusal  of  the  infanta,  made  the  most 
brilliant  preparations  for  his  approaching  nuptials, 
while  on  his  way  to  claim  his  bride,  followed  by  a 
numerous  suite,  was  taken  suddenly  ill  of  a  disease 
which  carried  him  off  on  the  fourth  day,  to  the  grief 
of  the  craven  Enrique,  who  had  hoped  from  this  union 
to  obtain  repose. 

The  insurgents  still  remaining  in  arms,  and  no  hope 
of  conciliation  being  now  possible  between  the  con- 
tending parties,  the  settlement  of  the  respective  claims 
of  each  was  finally  left  to  the  decision  of  arms.  A 
battle  was  fought  in  1467.  on  the  plains  of  Olmedo,» 
which  lasted  three  hours,  and  was  brought  to  a  con- 
elusion  by  the  approach  of  night,  without  any  very 
signal  advantage  to  either  side,  though  the  king's 

#  Two-and-twenty  years  before,  these  plains  had  witnessed  tb« 
battle  between  Don  Juan  II.  and  his  rebellious  subject* 

18 


410  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

forces  remained  in  possession  of  the  field.  The  king's 
army  had  far  outnumbered  that  of  the  league,  but  the 
want  of  spirit  in  the  head  infused  irresolution  into  the 
men,  while  the  chiefs  of  the  other  party  made  up  by 
their  bravery,  and  well  judged  decisive  movements, 
for  their  numerical  inferiority.  Previous  to  the  battle, 
an  incident  occurred  which  is  truly  characteristic  of 
the  reckless  valor  of  the  Castilians.  The  archbishop 
of  Seville  sent  to  warn  Don  Beltran  de  la  Cueva  not  to 
appear  on  the  field,  as  forty  gentlemen  had  taken  an 
oath  to  seek  him  out  and  take  his  life.  The  favorite, 
who  had  recently  been  created  duke  of  Alburquerque, 
returned  an  answer  that  shows  him  not  to  have  been 
totally  undeserving  the  partiality  with  which  his  sov- 
ereign regarded  him.  "  Tell  your  lord,"  said  the  gal- 
lant noble,  "  that  I  take  kindly,  as  the  act  of  a  friend, 
this  his  courteous  message,  but  that  it  would  ill  beseem 
a  knight  to  act  as  he  advises,  for  honor  hangs  ever  on 
the  skirts  of  danger  ;  and,  as  to  those  gentlemen  who 
have  sworn  my  death,  to  them,  also,  shall  ye  bear  a 
message."  Then  drawing  the  man's  attention  to  the 
dress  he  wore,  "  look  here,"  continued  Don  Beltran, 
"  this  same  dress  and  colors  shall  I  wear  on  the  day 
of  the  battle.  I  prithee  mark  and  describe  them  well 
to  those  bold  knights,  that  by  these  signs  and  tokens, 
they  may  know,  when  they  meet  him,  the  duke  of 
Alburquerque."  This  knightly  defiance  came  well 
nigh  costing  the  bold  noble  his  life,  but  Enrique  him- 
self was  not  one  to  follow  his  fearless  example,  and 
kept  out  of  reach  of  danger,  until,  receiving  false  in- 


DOS  A  JUANA    DE  PORTUGAL.  411 

telligence  of  his  party  losing  the  day,  he,  with  some 
thirty  or  forty  attendants,  spurred  till  they  reached 
the  shelter  of  a  neighboring  village.  The  archbishop 
of  Toledo,  who  had  headed  the  forces  of  his  party, 
distinguished  by  the  rich  scarlet  mantle  with  its  em- 
broidered white  cross  worn  over  his  armor,  after  prov- 
ing himself  possessed  of  the  talents  of  an  able  general, 
as  well  as  of  the  brilliant  valor  of  a  gallant  knight, 
and  rallying  again  and  again  his  disordered  troops, 
though  suffering  from  a  wound  in  the  arm,  was  the 
last  to  retire,  accompanied  by  the  young  Alfonso,  who, 
though  but  fourteen  years  of  age,  rode  by  his  side, 
clad  in  mail,  through  all  the  battle.  The  counts  of 
Alva  and  Luna,  and  several  other  nobles,  were  cap- 
tured. 

Both  parties  were  recruiting  to  renew  the  contest, 
when  a  legate  from  the  pope  arrived,  who  endeavored 
to  prevail  on  the  insurgents  to  lay  down  their  arms 
and  submit  their  quarrel  to  his  arbitration.  Finding 
his  arguments  ineffectual,  he  had  recourse  to  the  weap- 
ons that  had  in  other  days  proved  so  decisive,  and 
threatened  them  with  the  thunders  of  the  church. 
But  the  time  when  these  anathemas  could  cause  dread 
had  gone  by,  and  the  bold  barons,  while  they  acknow- 
ledged the  sway  of  the  pontiff  in  all  spiritual  matters, 
laughed  at  and  denied  his  claim  to  the  right  of  inter- 
ference in  the  temporal  affairs  of  Castile.  The  legate, 
imprudently  attempting  to  insist,  was  insulted,  hooted, 
and  forced  to  make  a  precipitate  retreat  from  the  camp 


THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

of  the  insurgents.     A  suspension  of  arms  was,  how- 
ever, agreed  on  between  the  leaguers  and  the  king. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  queen,  who  had  remained 
with  the  royal  family  in  Segovia,  was  greatly  alarmed 
by  the  news  brought  to  her  of  that  town  having  been 
betrayed  to  the  insurgents,  by  its  treacherous  alcalde, 
Don  Pedro  Arrias.  She  immediately  took  refuge  with 
her  daughter,  and  the  duchess  of  Alburquerque,  in 
the  fortress,  but  could  not  induce  the  infanta  Isabel 
to  accompany  her  thither,  as  the  latter,  having  prede- 
termined to  join  her  brother  Alfonso's  party,  chose  with 
her  own  ladies  to  await  his  arrival  in  the  palace. 
The  Segovians,  though  little  pleased  with  the  en- 
trance of  the  leaguers,  could  make  no  opposition  to 
forces  so  superior,  and  submitted  quietly ;  but  the  king 
was  greatly  grieved  at  the  loss  of  this  town,  which, 
from  its  surrounding  forests,  abounding  with  game, 
was  a  favorite  residence.  Segovia  was,  moreover,  the 
place  of  his  birth  ;  it  contained  his  treasures  and  had 
been  embellished  and  enriched  con  amore  by  Enrique, 
who  reckoned  himself  among  its  citizens.  Destitute 
of  firmness  to  look  the  evil  steadily  in  the  face,  and 
rally  against  the  blow,  the  spiritless  monarch  dis- 
banded his  troops,  and  tamely  placed  himself  in  the 
hands  of  the  rebels,  who  offered  to  make  a  complete 
restitution  of  all  they  had  taken  from  the  king  within 
six  months  ;  a  promise  they  never  intended  to  realize. 
The  queen  was  placed  in  the  fortress  of  Alahijos  un- 
der the  charge  of  the  archbishop  of  Seville,  and  the 
king,  after  spending  four  months  in  the  palace  of  the 


DOflA    JUANA    DE    PORTUGAL.  413 

count  of  Placencia,  was  conducted  from  one  place  to 
another,  amused  by  the  promises  of  the  Marquis  of 
Villena. 

In  the  following  year  the  death  of  the  young  Alfonso* 
Deemed  to  promise  the  dissolution  of  his  faction,  but 
the  leaguers  immediately  proclaimed  his  sister  Isabel, 
as  heiress  to  his  right,  queen  of  Castile  and  Leon. 
Enrique,  with  his  customary  facility,  negotiated  with 
the  league  and  accepted  all  the  proposals  made  to  him. 
He  not  only  recognized  the  princess  as  his  heiress, 
(she  refused  to  accept  the  title  of  queen  during  the 
life  of  Enrique,)  but  consented  that  his  queen  Juana 
should  be  divorced  and  sent  back  to  Portugal  within 
four  months.  Enrique  also  agreed  to  give  to  Isabel 
the  towns  of  Avila,  Buete,  Molina,  Medina  del  Campo, 
Olmedo,  Escalona,  and  Ubeda,  to  sustain  her  state  as 
crown  princess.  The  infanta,  on  her  part,  promised 
never  to  marry  without  the  king's  consent.  This  treaty 
took  place  in  Toros  de  Gruisanda,  on  Monday,  September 
19th,  1468. 

Juana  received  with  emotions  of  mingled  indigna- 
tion and  sorrow  the  news  of  her  husband's  weak 
compliance  with  the  decree  that  sent  her  back  an  exile 
and  a  divorced  queen  to  her  native  land,  and,  illegiti- 
matizing  her  child,  deprived  her  of  her  inheritance. 
Having  concerted  with  Don  Luis  Hurtado  de  Mendoza, 
reputed  one  of  her  lovers,  her  escape  from  the  fortress 

*  The  infante  Alfonso  was  found  dead  in  his  bed  on  the  5th  of 
July,  1468.  By  some  his  sudden  demise  was  attributed  to  the 
pestilence  then  raging,  and  by  others,  to  poison. 


414  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

of  Alahijos,  where  she  was  kept  a  close  prisoner  by 
the  archbishop  of  Seville,  the  queen  was  lowered  one 
night  from  the  window  of  her  apartment  in  a  basket. 
The  rope  unfortunately  proved  short,  and  those  above, 
who  thought  the  queen  had  reached  the  ground,  letting 
it  go  suddenly,  she  was  precipitated  several  feet,  and  in 
the  fall  injured  her  face  and  one  of  her  limbs.  "With- 
out loss  of  time,  and  regardless  of  pain,  Juana  mount- 
ed behind  Don  Luis  and  repaired  to  Buytrago,  where 
her  daughter  resided.  The  archbishop  of  Seville  was 
so  much  incensed  by  the  queen's  flight,  that  he  became 
from  that  day  her  most  implacable  enemy. 

Juana  no  sooner  found  herself  at  liberty  than  she 
took  all  the  measures  in  her  power  for  the  assertion  of 
her  child's  rights.  Having  been  advised  that  Isabel 
had  been  sworn  heiress  to  the  crown,  she  dispatched 
Don  Luis  Hurtado,  invested  with  full  powers,  to  pro- 
test against  the  injustice  done  to  herself  and  daughter, 
asserting  that  the  latter,  being  born  in  wedlock,  and 
in  the  king's  palace,  could  not  be  pronounced  illegiti- 
mate. To  this,  the  enemies  of  the  queen  replied,  that 
if  the  being  born  in  wedlock  and  in  the  king's  house 
constituted  a  right  to  the  throne,  the  queen  had  two 
other  children,  Don  Fernando  and  Don  Apostol,  by  Don 
Pedro  de  Castilla,  who,  as  males,  had  a  still  better 
right  to  the  inheritance. 

That  the  queen's  conduct  was  little  in  accordance 
with  the  grave  dignity  of  Castilian  royalty,  and  that 
her  youth  and  vivacity  led  her  to  commit  many  im- 
prudent acts  that  gave  ample  scope  to  the  misinterpre- 


DOSiA    JUANA    DE    PORTUGAL.  415 

tations  of  her  enemies,  there  is  no  doubt ;  but,  it  is 
also  very  probable  that  her  levity  has  been  greatly  ex- 
aggerated by  the  faction  who  sought  to  place  another 
sovereign  on  the  throne ;  and,  the  chroniclers  who 
wrote  during  the  reigns  of  Isabel  and  her  immediate 
successors  were  careful  to  record  in  the  worst  colors 
every  circumstance  that,  by  rendering  the  illegitimacy 
of  Juana  doubtful,  substantiated  the  claim  of  her  suc- 
cessful rival.  Enrique  himself  never,  of  his  own  free 
will,  expressed  a  doubt  of  his  paternity.  His  own 
early  misconduct  had  subjected  him  to  an  imputation 
from  which  his  partisans  had  in  latter  years  vainly 
sought  to  clear  him,  by  asserting  that  time  had  restored 
his  vigor,  but  suspicion  once  excited  is  difficult  to  allay. 
Blander,  like  some  foul  substance  thrown  into  a  calm 
lake,  may  sink  for  a  while  and  seem  to  be  laid  at  rest 
forever,  but  let  a  strong  breeze  ruffle  the  face  of  the 
waters,  and  it  will  rise  to  the  surface  impregnated 
with  the  slime  in  which  it  has  been  imbedded.  The 
imprudent,  if  unfortunate,  are  seldom  allowed  to  be 
guiltless.  If.  as  many  circumstances  would  tend  to 
show,  Juana,  with  the  connivance  of  her  weak  hus- 
band, had  one  lover,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  the 
voice  of  rumor  multiplied  the  one  to  ten. 

It  was  concerted  between  the  Marquis  of  Villena/ and 
the  king,  that  the  princess  Juana  should  marry  tho 
crown  prince  of  Portugal,  and  the  infanta  Isabel  the 
king,  his  father,  and  that  if  the  latter  should  have  no 
issue,  the  former  should  inherit  the  crown  of  Castile. 
Isabel,  however,  though  present  when  this  arrangement 


416  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

was  made,  never  gave  her  consent  to  marry  one  whose 
years  so  greatly  outnumbered  her  own. 

Q,ueen  Juana  was  invited  to  be  present  at  the  inter- 
view proposed  with  the  king  of  Portugal,  but  fearing 
lest  it  might  prove  a  scheme  to  leave  her  in  the  power 
of  her  brother  and  prevent  her  returning -to  Castile, 
she  positively  refused  to  go. 

Many  nobles  resenting  that  Isabel  should  have  been 
sworn  heiress  without  their  participation,  others  indig- 
nant at  the  king  having  received  in  his  favor  the 
arch  rebel  Villena,  and  others  again  convinced  of  the 
legitimacy  of  Juana,  upheld  the  claim  of  that  princess. 
Among  these  were  the  powerful  house  of  Mendoza  and 
the  great  marquis  of  Santillana.  The  king  himself 
secretly  favored  this  party,  and  neither  in  public  nor 
in  private  was  ever  heard  to  express  a  doubt  of  the 
princess,  to  whom  he  manifested  great  affection,  being 
his  own  child.  He  moreover  wrote  with  his  own  hand 
to  the  Pope,  Paul  II.,  requesting  he  would  not  confirm 
the  infanta  Isabel's  election,  and  also  to  the  king  of 
Portugal,  and  to  his  own  agent  at  Rome,  that  they 
might  urge  the  matter  with  the  pontiff. 

The  refusal  of  Isabel  to  marry  either  the  king  of 
Portugal  or  the  duke  of  Gruienne,  who  was  subse- 
quently proposed,  irritated  the  king  greatly,  as  the 
a  llience  in  either  case  would  have  been  very  advantage- 
ous to  the  interests  of  the  princess  Juana,  the  age  of 
the  Portuguese  rendering  it  highly  improbable  that  any 
issue  would  be  born  of  the  marriage,  and  the  French- 
man being  at  so  great  a  distance  as  to  render  that 


DOSfA    JUANA    DE    PORTUGAL.  417 

marriage  a  species  of  exile  for  the  bride.  The  prefer- 
ence of  Isabel  for  the  prince  of  Aragon  was  soon  con- 
firmed, to  the  great  anger  of  the  king,  by  her  secret 
marriage  with  him  against  the  express  will  of  Enrique, 
who  manifested  his  resentment  by  openly  retracting 
his  acknowledgment  of  Isabel  as  heiress,  and  negotia- 
ted the  marriage  of  the  princess  Juana  with  the  duke 
of  G-uienne.  The  betrothal  took  place  in  Valde  Loz- 
oya,  between  Segovia  and  Buytrago,  in  October  of  the 
year  1470.  The  queen  having  brought  her  daughter, 
accompanied  by  the  marquis  of  Santillana  and  a  num- 
ber of  nobles,  the  king  gave  his  reasons  for  revoking 
his  promise  to  Isabel,  dwelling  chiefly  on  her  disobedi- 
ence to  his  commands.  The  cardinal,  ambassador  of 
France,  then  approaching  the  queen,  received  her  sol- 
emn oath  that  the  princess  Juana,  her  daughter,  was 
the  legitimate  child  of  King  Enrique,  who,  in  his  turn, 
swore  that  he  had  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  said 
princess  was  his  child,  and  that  he  had  over  held  her 
as  such.  This  extraordinary  ceremony  was  followed 
by  that  of  the  betrothal,  the  count  of  Boulogne  acting 
as  proxy  for  the  duke.  The  nobles  and  prelates  then 
took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  Juana.  Three  days 
after  the  king  and  queen  repaired,  with  but  few  follow- 
ers, to  Segovia,  the  princess  making  her  entrance  into 
that  town  with  great  solemnity,  accompanied  by  a 
numerous  suite  of  lords  and  prelates. 

This  alliance  was,  however,  soon  dissolved  by  the 
sudden  death  of  the  duke,  caused,  as  it  was  supposed, 
by  poison.     Enrique  then  endeavored  to  conclude  the 
18* 


418  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

marriage  between  Juana  and  the  heir  of  Portugal 
that  had  formerly  been  treated  of,  but  his  efforts  met 
with  no  success,  the  king  of  Portugal  being  too  prudent 
to  wish  to  connect  his  son  with  one  whose  pretensions 
were  matter  of  so  much  dispute,  and  whose  alliance 
would  involve  him  in  the  civil  war  then  pending.  The 
king  still  anxious  to  establish  the  princess  suitably, 
then  sent  for  his  cousin  Enrique,  son  of  the  infante 
Don  Enrique,  and  nephew  of  his  mother.  Dona  Maria, 
queen  of  Aragon. 

The  king,  in  the  meanwhile,  was  constantly  urged 
by  his  mayordomo,  Don  Andres  Cabrera,  to  be  recon- 
ciled to  his  sister.  The  wife  of  Cabrera,  Dona  Beatrix 
de  Bobadilla,  having  been  brought  up  with  Isabel,  was 
united  to  her  by  the  closest  ties  of  friendship,  and 
neglected  no  opportunity  of  advancing  her  mistress's 
interests.  Enrique's  pliant  temper  was  not  proof 
against  these  repeated  solicitations,  and  he  finally 
consented  to  an  interview,  which  took  place  in  Segovia, 
December,  1473.  Enrique  received  his  sister  with 
tokens  of  affection,  and,  after  a  conversation  that  lasted 
two  hours,  during  which  Isabel  endeavored  to  vindicate 
her  conduct  and  obtain  his  sanction  to  her  marriage 
with  Ferdinand  of  Aragon,  to  prove  publicly  the  good 
terms  on  which  they  stood,  led  her  palfrey  by  the  reins 
through  the  streets  of  Segovia.  Isabel,  judging  the 
occasion  propitious,  sent  for  her  husband,  and  Enrique, 
with  his  usual  facility,  having  been  persuaded  to 
receive  and  welcome  him  kindly,  the  reconciliation  of 
these  three  members  of  the  royal  family  gave  rise  to  a 


DONA    JTJANA    DE    PORTUGAL.  419 

series  of  fetes  and  rejoicings.  At  the  first  of  these 
entertainments,  the  king  partook  of  a  banquet  with 
his  sister  and  brother-in-law,  and  was  immediately 
after  taken  severely  ill.  He  recovered  but  partially 
from  this  indisposition,  the  effects  of  which  continued 
to  afflict  him  to  the  day  of  his  death.  While  the  king 
lay  ill,  the  partisans  of  Isabel  wearied  him  with  con- 
tinual importunities,  to  induce  him  to  acknowledge 
her  as  his  successor,  but  Enrique  eluded  every  attempt 
of  the  kind,  and  finally  irritated  by  the  perseverance 
with  which  the  unwelcome  subject  was  forced  on  him, 
concerted  measures  with  the  Grand  Master  of  Santiago* 
for  the  seizure  of  the  person  of  his  daughter's  rival. 
The  scheme,  having  been  discovered  prematurely,  was 
foiled  by  Isabel  and  her  adherents. 

The  king,  worn  out  by  the  disease  contracted  at 
the  time  of  the  reconciliation  with  Isabel,  survived  it 
but  one  year,  during  which  he  was  taken  from  place 
to  place,  a  mere  tool  of  the  whims  and  selfish  ambition 
of  the  grand  master.  This  intriguing,  restless  spirit 
preceded  by  a  few  months  his  master  to  the  tomb  ; 
but  Enrique,  by  a  strange  infatuation,  not  only  la- 
mented with  many  tears  the  event  that  terminated 
his  slavery,  but  continued  all  the  father's  honors  to 
his  son,  the  Marquis  of  Villena,  in  whose  behalf  he 
underwent  so  much  fatigue  of  mind  and  body  as  con- 
tributed greatly  to  aggravate  his  disease,  and  hnrry 
him  to  the  tomb. 

*  Don  Juan  Pacheco,  having  been  created  Grand  Master  ot 
Santiago,  had  renounced  the  Marquisate  of  Villena  to  his  son 


420  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

On  the  eleventh  of  December,  1474,  expired  the  last 
male  scion  of  the  line  of  Trastarnara,  a  line  that  for 
one  hundred  years  had  occupied  the  throne  of  Castile. 
Whether  or  not  Enrique  left  a  will  has  been  matter  of 
great  doubt  and  dispute,  and  never  to  this  day  clearly 
ascertained,  but  that  he  declared,  on  his  death  bed, 
the  princess  Juana,  to  be  his  lawful  daughter  and 
heiress,  is  too  well  authenticated  to  admit  of  a  doubt. 

During  the  last  four  years  of  Enrique's  existence, 
his  queen  had  almost  contantly  lived  apart  from  him. 
A  dislike  on  the  part  of  the  king,  caused  by  Juana's 
dissolute  conduct,  is  assigned  as  the  reason  of  this 
estrangement.  If  we  take  into  consideration  that  the 
king,  during  that  period,  was  entirely  under  the  con- 
trol of  those  who  were  the  bitterest  enemies  of  Juana, 
and  that  his  actions  never  emanated  from  any  will  of 
his  own,  but  were  dictated  by  the  interests  of  those 
who  held  him  in  subjection,  we  may  be  inclined  to 
doubt  whether  the  queen  were  as  criminal  as  she  is 
represented. 

Juana  survived  her  husband  but  six  months,  and 
died  on  the  thirteenth  June,  1475,  in  Madrid,  at  the 
early  age  of  thirty-six. 

To  the  historian  who  writes  the  reign  of  Enrique 
IV.,  devolves  the  unwelcome  task  of  recording  the 
most  disastrous  and  corrupt  period  of  the  history  of 
Spain.  The  last  five  years  of  this  unhappy  reign, 
were  especially  marked  by  the  frightful  anarchy  into 
which  the  state  was  thrown.  The  work  of  destruc- 


DONA  JUANA  DE  PORTUGAL.  421 

tion  and  ruin  effected  by  the  selfish  ambition  and 
crushing  despotism  of  the  rulers,  aided  by  the  turbulent 
current  of  demoralization  that,  taking  its  source  in 
the  higher  classes,  and  pervading  all  ranks,  threatened 
to  sweep  away  all  that  remained  of  wisdom,  greatness 
and  goodness  in  Castile,  presents  a  fearful  picture. 
The  student  of  history  will  have  frequent  occasion 
to  notice  that  corrupted  civilization  is  ever  the  fore- 
runner of  national  decay,  and  in  this  instance,  the 
cancer,  whose  roots  were  in  the  venal  system  of  gov- 
ernment, had  spread  its  infection  far  and  wide,  threat- 
ening complete  annihilation.  The  loyalty  innate  in 
the  majority  of  the  Castilians,  the  repeated  efforts  of 
many  powerful,  brave,  upright  and  conscientious  no- 
bles to  rouse  the  king  from  his  lethargy  and  rescue 
the  state  from  the  abyss  into  which  the  factions  were 
precipitating  it,  his  own  shame  and  degradation,  all 
these  motives  were  neutralized  by  the  apathetic  na- 
ture of  Enrique,  who,  a  votary  of  pleasure,  sacrificed 
his  honor  and  the  nation  to  his  love  of  indolent  and 
luxurious  ease.  In  the  number  of  sovereigns  that  had 
preceded  him  on  the  throne,  not  one  can  be  found  so  ut- 
terly destitute  of  every  qualification  of  a  king.  Neither 
did  his  ill-chosen  ministers  possess  the  talent  and  patriot- 
ism that  might  have  atoned  for  the  imbecility  of  the 
monarch.  Intent  on  his  own  personal  aggrandizement, 
his  favorite,  grasping,  insatiate  and  tyrannical,  caused 
his  wearied  tool  to  exclaim.  "  Oh  that  the  world  were 
mine  for  a  few  days,  perchance  I  might  then  satisfy 


422  THE    QUEENS    OF    SPAIN. 

the  inordinate  cupidity  of  Villena  !'  The  long  con- 
tinued struggle  of  the  rival  factions  had  given  a  death 
blow  to  commerce,  and  produced  a  complete  paralysis 
of  industry  in  all  its  branches.  The  agriculturist, 
seeing  his  fields  ravaged  repeatedly,  and  hopeless  of 
reaping  his  harvests,  ceased  to  cultivate  the  ground, 
and  for  two  years  a  fearful  scarcity  added  to  the  hor- 
rors of  civil  war.  The  high  roads  had  become  impassa- 
ble, save  to  numerous  and  well-armed  bodies  of  men, 
from  the  numbers  of  bands  of  robbers  that  infested 
them,  composed  of  the  idle,  the  licentious  and  the  dis- 
affected. These  were  not  unfrequently  the  retainers 
of  men  of  rank  and  fortune,  whose  castles  were  con- 
verted into  the  strongholds  of  freebooters,  dens  of  idle- 
ness, and  schools  of  civil  war.  No  hostile  invaders 
could  have  committed  worse  depredations  than  these 
robber  chieftains,  the  incentive  of  private  feud  being 
often  added  to  that  of  cupidity.  Society,  shaken  to 
its  very  foundations,  had  ceased  to  be  aught  but  a  sys- 
tem of  strife  and  contest,  the  strong  tyrannizing  over 
the  weak,  through  all  its  grades.  Wholesale  pillage, 
incendiarism  and  massacres  threatened  to  make  a 
wide  and  desolate  waste  of  this  beautiful  land,  when 
the  death  of  Enrique  ended  the  fearful  crisis.  With 
the  reign  of  Isabel  and  Ferdinand  commenced  a  new 
and  splendid  era.  The- chaos  slowly  dispelled,  and  the 
sun  of  Castilian  glory,  on  the  eve  of  being  quenched 
forever,  rose  through  the  mist  with  a  brilliancy  far 
surpassing  the  light  of  the  fairest  of  its  former  days. 
Everything  had  to  be  reorganized,  remoulded,  recon- 


DONA  JUANA  DE  PORTUGAL.  423 

structed, created  anew;  but,  though  dispersed,  trodden' 
under  foot  and  perverted  to  evil,  the  elements  were 
there,  and  it  required  but  a  prudent  and  skilful  hand 
to  disentangle  the  threads  from  the  maze. 

The  incidents  occurring  in  this  reign,  connected  with  the  life  of 
Isabel,  are  given  more  at  large  in  the  annals  of  that  queen. 


NOTES, 

Muza  sent  over  a  much  larger  force,  p.  19. 

THE  Moors  under  the  command  of  Tharick,  or  Tarif-Ben 
Zayad,  landed  on  the  rock  of  Calpe,  afterwards  called,  from  the 
name  of  the  Arab  chief,  Gebel-al-Tarif,  which,  in  process  of  time, 
was  corrupted  to  Gibraltar.  The  army  of  the  invaders  was  sooii 
increased  by  vast  numbers  of  fugitive  slaves,  and  Jews.  To  both 
these  two  classes  any  change  of  government  was  welcome,  the  laws 
of  the  Goths  treating  them  with  unmitigated  severity.  The  Jews 
were  as  much  objects  of  execration  to  the  Goths  as  to  the  Span- 
iards of  eight  centuries  later,  and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that 
they  should  have  embraced  the  opportunity  that  presented  itself  of 
turning  on  their  oppressors. 

The  remainder  of  the  Goths,  astounded  at  this  unparalleled 
treachery,  &c.  p.  20. 

Count  Julien  was  also  assisted  by  Eba  and  Sisebuth.  the  sons  of 
Witiza,  Roderic's  predecessor.  Blinded  by  their  ambition  and 
seduced  by  the  fallacious  hope  that  their  infidel  allies  would,  after 
assisting  them  to  overthrow  the  reigning  sovereign,  leave  them  to 
llie  quiet  possession  of  the  kingdom  their  father  had  forfeited  by 
Jiis  vices,  these  traitors  who  commanded  the  two  wings  of  the  army 
of  the  Goths,  passed  over  to  the  Moors  on  the  fourth  day  of  this 
prolonged  engagement.  Notwithstanding  this  fatal  defection,  the 
brave  king  continued  to  maintain  the  desperate  contest  for  several 
days,  and  the  prodigies  of  valor  he  achieved  are  attested  by  both 


NOTES.  425 

Moorish  and  Christian  authorities.  The  engagement  is  said  to 
have  lasted  eight  days,  but  it  is  probable  that  several  of  these  were 
spent  in  skirmishes  and  encounters  of  detached  bodies  of  troops. 

Many  stories  and  probable  surmises  as  to  his  fate.  p.  20. 

A  sepulchre  is  said  to  have  been  discovered  near  Viseo,  in 
Portugal,  two  centuries  after  the  defeat  of  the  Gothic  king,  bearing 
the  following  inscription  : 

Hie  requiescit  Rodericus  UltJmus  Rex  Gothonm. 
This  apparently  confirmed  the  belief  entertained  by  many  that  the 
heroic  Goth  had  succeeded  in  fording  the  river  and  had  sought 
refuge  in  Portugal,  where,  in  despair  at  the  loss  of  his  kingdom,  he 
remained  incognito,  leading  a  life  of  austere  penitence  and  dying 
in  obscurity. 

% 
No  doubt  largely  contributed  to  the  success  of  the  invaders,  p.  20. 

The  rapidity  with  which  the  Moors  accomplished  the  conquest 
of  the  hitherto  indomitable  Goths,  would  appear  incredible  did  we 
not  take  into  consideration  the  numerous  causes  that  led  to  their 
final  destruction.  Wherever  we  find  that  a  brave  and  powerful 
nation  has  been  easily  subdued  we  will  also  find  that  it  was  a  prey 
to  intestinal  divisions  ere  it  became  that  of  the  invaders. 

Abdahsis,  (he  son  of  Muza,  &c.  p.  21. 
Abdalesis  appears  to  have  been  a  man  of  genius,  who,  to  carry 
out  the  system  he  had  adopted  of  conciliating  the  Christians, 
blending  the  two  nations  into  one,  the  conquerors  with  the  con- 
quered, and  thus  securing  the  possession  of  the  newly  acquired 
territory,  married  Egilona.  The  imprudent  zeal  of  the  Goth  may 
have  contributed  to  mar  the  well-concerted  measures  of  the  mag- 
nanimous Moor.  It  is  related  of  the  ex-queen,  that  finding  her 
arguments  powerless  to  convince  her  already  too  tolerant  lord  and 
make  him  a  convert  to  the  tenets  he  permitted  her  to  follow,  she 
caused  the  doors  of  her  private  apartment  to  be  made  so  low  that 
the  chieftain  was  forced  to  incline  his  head  when  he  entered,  and 


426  NOTES. 

thus  do  homage  to  the  holy  images  placed  within  it.  This  invol- 
untary compliance  with  her  wishes  while  it  pleased  Egilona, 
incensed  his  warriors,  who,  seeing  in  this  unintentional  act  of 
submission,  the  signs  of  a  conversion  which  in  truth  was  far  from 
his  heart,  and  coupling  it  with  the  wise  indulgence  shown  to  tho 
conquered  race— an  indulgence  founded  on  reasons  they  had  not 
discernment  to  divine  and  appreciate — determined  to  punish  his 
apostacy.  It  is  however  equally  probable  that  the  Caliph  himself, 
jealous  of  the  influence  the  superior  intellect  of  his  lieutenant  had 
enabled  him  to  acquire,  and  dreading  lest  he  should  finally  render 
himself  independent,  caused  him  to  be  assassinated. 

Reign  of  Don  Pelayo.  p.  25. 

I  have  given  Pelayo  as  the  first  Christian  king  who  reigned  in 
Spain  after  its  conquest  by  the  Arabs,  the  dynasty  of  that  prince 
having  continued  in  possession  of  the  throne  and  enlarged  the 
boundaries  of  the  kingdom  he  founded.  Several  Gothic  princes 
are  however  mentioned  by  the  ancient  historians  as  having  been 
his  contemporaries  in  Spain,  though  the  title  of  king  has  unani- 
mously been  accorded  but  to  Pelayo.  Theodomir,  by  some  called 
Sancho,  a  prince  of  the  blood  royal,  was  governor  of  Andalusia  at 
the  time  of  the  invasion,  and  having  opposed  a  brave  but  vain 
resistance  to  the  Moors,  look  refuge  with  his  band  of  devoted 
followers,  into  the  mountain  fastnesses  of  the  Alpujarras,  and 
thence  into  Orijuela.  To  deceive  the  Moors  who  besieged  the 
town  into  the  belief  that  its  garrison  was  numerous,  the  Gothic 
chief  caused  the  female  inhabitants  to  appear  on  the  walls  dressed 
as  men,  and  this  stratagem,  together  with  his  gallant  defence,  ob- 
tained for  him  the  most  favorable  terms  of  capitulation,  and  even 
the  government  of  a  principality  composed  of  the  whole  of  the 
province  of  Murcia  and  part  of  that  of  Valencia,  under  con- 
dition of  paying  the  Caliph  a  stipulated  tribute,  and  acknow- 
ledging himself  his  feudatory.  That  he  reigned  some  time 
in  that  part  of  Spain,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Atha- 
nagild,  is  a  well-authenticated  fact.  Athanagild  was  despoiled  of 


NOTES.  427 

his  possessions  by  one  of  the  successors  of  Abdalesis,  and,  amid 
the  confusion  that  reigns  in  the  history  of  that  period,  all  traces  of 
his  descendants  are  lost. 


There,   trere   many    towns   that   had  freely   submitted  to  the 
invaders,  &c.,  p.  26. 

The  manner  in  which  the  infidels  treated  the  conquered  Spaniards 
forms  a  strong  contrast  with  the  conduct  of  the  latter  towards  the 
Moors  when,  three  centuries  later  they,  in  their  turn,  subdued  their 
former  conquerors.  The  leniency  of  those  we  find  most  unjustly 
termed  barbarians,  their  numerous  traits  of  magnanimous  clemency, 
romantic  generosity,  and  gallant  self  devotion,  are  recorded  by  the 
Spaniards  themselves.  The  terms  of  capitulation  granted  by  them 
were  in  every  case,  without  a  single  exception,  strictly  observed. 
Wherever  the  Spanish  towns,  yielding  to  necessity  or  inclination, 
opened  their  gates  to  the  invaders,  such  of  the  inhabitants  as  chose 
to  remain  were  allowed  to  retain  their  possessions  on  the  payment 
of  the  same  taxes  as  were  paid  by  the  Mussulmans  themselves. 
Nor  was  the  exercise  of  the  Christian  faith  prohibited,  though  it 
was  fettered  by  some  slight  restrictions,  such  as  celebrating  the 
sacrament  of  mass  with  closed  doors,  and  no  external  manifestations 
in  the  form  of  religious  processions,  &c.  being  permitted.  Many 
towns,  such  as  Toledo,  Cordova,  and  Seville,  continued,  under  the 
rule  of  the  Arabs,  to  elect  their  bishops  and  regular  clergy ;  though 
Cordova  was  the  only  city  in  which  the  Christians  were  allowed 
the  privilege  of  ringing  bells  to  summon  to  worship.  They  were 
exempted  from  military  service,  for  which  exemption  a  tax,  payable 
but  once  in  a  lifetime,  was  levied  on  each  adult.  The  cities  that 
had  offered  a  desperate  resistance  were  given  up  to  pillage,  but  the 
treatment  of  the  captives  and  prisoners  of  war  was  neither  Aiel 
nor  even  harsh.  The  Christians  who,  submitting  to  the  Moors, 
continued  in  the  possession  of  their  lands  and  the  exercise  of  their 
religion,  were  denominated  Mozarabes.  They  were  not,  indeed, 
allowed  to  build  churches,  but  they  had  the  privilege  of  repairing, 


428  NOTES. 

and  even  entirely  rebuilding  the  old.  Of  eighteen  Emirs  who 
successively  governed  in  Spain  for  the  Caliphs,  (not  including 
those  who  temporarily  usurped  the  title),  from  the  year  714  to 
that  of  755,  two  only  can  be  found  who  did  not  exercise  their 
authority  with  strict  equity  and  moderation  towards  both  Christians 
and  Mussulmans,  though  the  restlessness,  ingratitude  and  insolence 
of  the  former  might  well  have  provoked  angry  retribution. 
Although  the  Mozarabes  were  indebted  to  the  toleration  and 
generosity  of  the  emirs  for  the  protection  they  enjoyed,  they  joined 
in  every  insurrection  of  the  Moors  against  their  princes.  This 
numerous  Christian  population  mingled  with  the  Arabian  in  each 
town,  and  dispersed  throughout  the  country  occupied  by  the  Moors, 
greatly  facilitated  its  reconquest  by  the  Christian  princes  who  were 
frequently  enabled  to  penetrate  into  the  heart  of  the  enemy's 
possessions  through  the  connivance  and  aid  of  the  Mozarabes. 
The  generous  and  enlightened  princes  of  the  Ommiade  dynasty 
were  succeeded  by  the  Almoravides.  These  African  Moors, 
imitated  neither  the  magnanimous  clemency  nor  the  imprudent 
toleration  of  the  Asiatic  emirs,  and,  after  the  retreat  of  Alfonso  the 
Warrior,  who  having,  in  1125,  penetrated,  with  four  thousand 
knights  only,  into  the  territory  of  Grenada,  was  then  joined  by 
fifty  thousand  Mozarabes  and  thus  enabled  to  commit  great  ravages, 
the  latter,  who  had  quietly  returned  to  their  homes,  were  driven 
by  the  Moors  to  the  coast  and  transported  into  Africa.  Those 
who  chose  to  take  service  in  Morocco  were  promoted  to  posts  of 
trust.  A  portion  of  their  descendants  returned  to  Spain  in  the 
reign  of  Juan  I.  of  Castile.  They  were  called  Farfanes,  and 
excelled  in  horsemanship.  The  Almoravides  had  allowed  the 
expelled  Mozarabes  to  dispose  of  their  property  ere  they  left 
Spain,  and  permitted  those  who  had  not  been  convicted  of  abetting 
the  King  of  Aragon  to  remain,  but  their  ferocious  successors,  the 
Alrnohadis,  butchered  all  the  Christians  and  even  the  Jews  whom 
they  found  on  their  entrance  into  the  towns  they  conquered  from 
the  Almoravides,  and,  from  the  period  of  the  conquest  of  Valencia 
by  these  fanatics  the  race  of  the  Mozarabes  became  extinct. 


NOTES.  429 

Battle  of  Clavijo,  p.  37. 

This  famous  battle  \v:is  fought  by  the  Leonese  against  the 
Moors,  in  the  year  844.  The  incredible  number  of  70,000  infidels 
is  said  to  have  been  left  dead  on  the  field. 

Doha  Teresa  never  forgave  the  celebrated  Fernan  Gonzalez  the 
death  of  her  father,  Ifc..  p.  42. 

The  story  of  the  death  of  Sancho  Abarca  by  the  bands  of  Fer- 
nan Gonzalez,  is  treated  as  a  fable  by  some  authors.  Teresa  is 
called  by  Aleson,  Teresa  Florentina  Sanchez,  and  he  also  says  she 
was  the  daughter  of  Sancho  Garcia  II.,  King  of  Navarre,  but  de- 
nies to  her  father  the  surname  of  Abarca,  and  gives  it  to  a  grand- 
son of  that  sovereign. 

Velasquita  and  Elvira,  p.  50. 

Elvira  was  the  daughter  of  Don  Garcia  the  Trembler,  and  the 
sister  of  Sancho  the  Great,  both  successively  kings  of  Navarre. 
After  the  death  of  Bermudo,  Elvira  retired  to  the  monastery  of  St. 
Pelayo,  of  Oviedo,  where  she  became  a  nun. 

Condado  of  Aragon,  first  erected  into  a  kingdom  under  Ramiro  /., 
in  1034,  p.  57. 

Garibay  numbers  six  counts  of  Aragon,  from  Don  Aznar,  who 
was  the  first,  and  who  is  proved  to  have  existed  about  the  year 
780.  This  petty  military  chieftain,  at  the  head  of  a  small  band, 
and  with  the  connivance  of  Garcia  Iniguez  I.,  King  of  Navarre, 
possessed  himself  of  the  castle  of  Apriz  and  its  adjoining  territo- 
ry, situated  between  the  rivers  Aragon  and  Subordan.  Master  of 
this  extensive  domain,  measuring  in  length  about  six  leagues,  Don 
Aznar  deemed  it  behooved  him  to  assume  a  title  corresponding  in 
importance  with  his  territorial  acquisitions,  and  with  the  consent 
of  the  King  of  Navarre,  took  that  of  count.  His  descendants,  by 
continual  inroads  on  the  Moors  managed  greatly  to  extend  the  li- 
mits of  their  domains,  until,  by  the  marriage  of  Urraca,  the  only 
child  and  heiress  of  the  sixth  count,  Don  Fortun  Ximenez  with 


430  NOTES. 

Garcia  Tniguez  II.  this  condado  was  united  with  Navarre.  This  ia 
one  of  the  most  probable  of  the  numberless  and  most  contradictory 
accounts  that  remain  of  those  times  to  puzzle  the  modern  historian. 
From  that  period,  the  kings  of  Navarre  bore  also  the  title  of  counts 
of  Aragon  for  seven  generations,  until  the  condado  was,  as  related, 
erected  into  an  independent  kingdom  by  Sancho  the  Great,  and 
bestowed  on  his  son  Ramiro.  From  the  accession  of  that  sove- 
reign to  that  of  Petronilla,  five  kings  occupied  the  throne  of  Ara- 
gon. By  the  marriage  of  this  lady  with  Raymond,  twelfth  count  of 
Barcelona,  that  territory  was  united  to  Aragon  in  1137.  From  the 
reign  of  that  sovereign  to  that  of  Ferdinand  II.  the  Catholic,  fifteen 
sovereigns  occupied  the  throne  of  Aragon,  making,  in  all,  twenty 
from  its  foundation. 

Ftteros,  p.  77. 

Fueros,  franchises.  Each  town  had  its  own  fueros,  particular 
jurisdiction,  and  exemptions  from  certain  taxes  or  services,  granted 
by  different  kings,  and  dating  frequently  from  the  period  of  its 
conquest  by  the  Moors. 

After  a  protracted  siege.  James  altai  led  his  object,  and,  on  the  eve 
of  St.  Martin's  day,  September,  1238,  entered  the  famous  city 
of  Valencia,  fyc.,  p.  83. 

The  celebrated  chieftain,  Rodrigo  del  Bivar,  a  contemporary  of 
Ferdinand  the  Great,  and  of  his  son,  Alfonso  VI.,  among  other 
exploits  took  Valencia  from  the  Moors  ;  but  it  was  retaken  by 
them  after  his  death  in  1 103. 

James,  the  Conqueror,  was  interred  in  the  royal  monastery  of 
Poblete.  In  one  of  the  leading  Havana  papers,  the  Faro  Indus- 
trial of  April  6,  1848,  an  account,  (said  to  have  been  copied  from 
the  Guia  del  Comercio  of  Madrid  of  same  year,)  was  given  of  the 
dismterment  at  Poblete  of  the  remains  of  several  personages,  and 
among  them  those  of  King  James  the  Conqueror;  which  were 
recognized  partly  by  his  extraordinary  stature,  and  partly  from  the 
circumstance  that  they  were  «o  well  preserved  that  the  mark  of 


NOTES. 

an  arrow  wound  which  he  received  at  the  siege  of  Valencia,  was 
still  visible  on  his  forehead. 

18,000  doblus  de  oro  de  juro  de  heredad.     Note  to  p.  145. 

The  dobla  was  a  Spanish  gold  coin  varying  in  value  in  different 
years.  •''  Taking  the  average  of  values,  which  varied  considera- 
bly in  different  years  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  it  appears  that  the 
ducat,  reduced  to  our  own  currency,  will  be  equal  to  about  eight 
dollars  and  seventy-seven  cents,  and  the  dobla  to  eight  dollars  and 
fifty-six  cents." — Prescott,  Introduction  to  History  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella. 

Juro  de  Heredad — hereditary  and  perpetual  income. 

Castile,  p.  175. 

The  ancient  Cantabria,  subsequently  called,  from  the  number  of 
fortresses  with  which  it  was  covered  by  Alfonso  I.  to  protect  it 
from  the  incursions  of  the  Moors,  Castella,  (since  corrupted  to 
Castilla)  was  governed  by  counts  until  the  year  1034,  when,  as 
related  in  the  text,  it  was  erected  into  an  independent  kingdom  un- 
der Ferdinand  the  nephew  of  the  last  count.  From  the  period  of 
the  reign  of  Alfonso  I.  who  redeemed  old  Castile  from  the  yoke  of 
the  infidel,  its  counts  or  governors,  remained  feudatories  to  the  kings 
of  Leon,  but  the  very  names  of  the  earlier  portion  of  these  military 
chiefs,  are  lost  in  the  impenetrable  obscurity  which  covers  that  re- 
mote age.  Roderic  [.,  whose  existence  is  well  authenticated,  was  a 
contemporary  of  Alfonso  I.  Sancho  Garcia,  the  eighth  and  last 
of  his  successors,  being  murdered,  as  related  in  the  annals  of  Te- 
resa, the  consort  of  Bermudo  III.,  the  condado  passed  into  the  fe- 
male line  in  the  person  of  Sancha,  the  wife  of  King  Ferdinand. 

The  prince  took  his  leave  of  the  Moorish  sovereign,  and,  loaded  with 
presents,  returned  to  Zamora,  p.  180. 

Although  all  accounts  agree  as  to  the  generous  hospitality  exer- 
cised by  the  Moorish  prince  towards  his  Christian  guest,  they  dif- 
fer as  to  his  willingness  to  allow  him  to  depart.  No  less  than 


432  NOTES. 

three  towns  had  been  assigned  as  an  appanage  to  Alfonso  during 
his  stay  at  the  court  of  Toledo,  by  his  munificent  host :  but  when 
the  prince  was  sent  for  to  assume  the  crown  that  had  once  been 
his,  the  king  was  advised  by  his  counsellors  to  prevent  the  depar- 
ture of  the  Christian  whose  knowledge  of  the  plan  of  fortifications 
of  the  capital  might  prove  dangerous  at  some  future  period,  and 
Alfonso,  fearing  he  might  be  detained,  made  his  escape  secretly  on 
a  horse,  the  shoes  of  which  were  inverted.  This  is  one  version. 
Another  says  that  Almenon  permitted  his  guest  to  depart  after  ex- 
acting certain  conditions  of  alliance  from  him.  However  this 
might  be,  it  is  certain  that  the  Castilian  sovereign  came  several 
times  at  the  head  of  his  forces  to  the  assistance  of  his  infidel  ally, 
when  the  latter  was  threatened  by  the  emirs  of  Cordova  and  Se- 
ville. On  one  of  these  occasions  it  is  said  that  Alfonso,  having 
invited  Almenon  to  visit  him  in  his  camp  outside  the  walls,  spoke 
to  him  in  the  following  terms :  "  The  conditions  of  our  alliance 
having  been  stipulated  when  I  was  in  thy  power,  are  null  and 
void,  but  now  that  I  have  thee  in  mine  I  renew  them  voluntarily, 
that  they  may  be  of  full  value." 

Gomez,  Count  of  Candespina,  p.  187. 

The  Count  Don  Gomez  Gonzalez  was  not  surnained  de  Candes- 
pina until  after  his  death,  that  name  being  given  to  him  in  allusion 
to  the  field  of  battle  where  he  was  slain — el  campo  de  lasespinas  — 
the  field  of  thorns. 

Suspected,  and  not  without  reason,  of  having  plotted  to  dethrone 
him,  p.  282. 

The  conduct  of  Maria  in  Toro  was  not  the  first  instance  of  her 
disregard  for  her  son's  feelings.  In  the  first  year  of  his  reign, 
Pedro  was  attacked  by  a  malady  which  in  a  short  time  increased 
to  such  a  degree  as  to  render  his  recovery  doubtful.  The  lowei 
ranks,  who  had  already  learned  to  appreciate  the  many  noble  qualities 
of  this  unfortunate  youth,  grieved  much  at  the  prospect  of  losing 
him,  but  the  nobles  and  those  most  nearly  allied  to  him,  disputed 


NOTES.  433 

around  the  bed  of  their  dying  sovereign  for  the  inheritance  of  his 
crown.  Some  proposed  the  Infante  of  Aragon,  Ferdinand,  Mar- 
quis of  Tortosa.  the  king's  cousin,  on  the  ground  that  his  mother, 
Leonor  had,  during  the  life  of  her  father,  Ferdinand  the  Summon- 
ed, and  before  the  birth  of  her  brother,  the  late  king,  Alfonso  XII. 
been  twice  proclaimed  heiress  of  the  crown  of  Castile.  The  par- 
tisans of  this  claimant  proposed  that  he  should  marry  Maria,  the 
queen-mother,  in  order  to  strengthen  his  party  by  the  alliance  of 
Portugal.  For  this  purpose  a  dispensation  was  to  be  sought.  On 
the  other  hand,  Don  Alfonso  Fernandez  Coronel,  and  Don  Garcia 
Lasso  de  la  Vega,  were  in  favor  of  Don  Juan  Nunez  de  Lara,  lord 
of  Biscay,  the  son  of  Don  Alfonso  de  laCerda,  and  consequently 
the  lineal  male  descendant  of  King  Alfonso  the  Astrologer.  The 
partisans  of  Don  Juan  Nunez  were  also  desirous  that  he  should 
marry  the  queen-mother,  and  thereby  secure  her  father's  support. 
It  is  evident  that  Dona  Maria  took  more  part  in  these  intrigues 
than  well  beseemed  the  mother  of  tbe  sovereign  whose  speedy  re- 
covery, however,  disconcerted  the  plans  of  the  vultures  who 
eagerly  watched  for  his  last  breath  to  seize  the  spoils.  It  can 
cause  little  surprise  that  Pedro,  with  his  deep  impassioned  feelings, 
should  have  harbored  a  keen  resentment  of  the  conduct  of  his  rela- 
tives— a  resentment  which  the  continued  intrigues  of  his  aunt 
Leonor  were  too  well  calculated  to  keep  alive. 

Four  years  was  Don  Pedro  thus  kept  a  prisoner  by  his  insolent 
vassals,  p.  296 

Until  the  period  of  his  detention  in  Toro,  Don  Pedro  had  shown 
himself  impetuous  and  irritable,  but  open  tn  conviction,  full  of 
truthfulness,  knightly  honor  and  magnanimity.  But  the  humilia- 
tions to  which  he  was  then  subjected  effected  a  great  change  in  his 
temper.  He  acquired  a  habit  of  dissimulation  which  he  found  indis- 
pensable to  cope  with  his  false  kinsmen  and  traitorous  friends,  and 
that  contempt  and  hatred  for  the  nobles,  which  led  him  to  shed 
their  blood  without  scruple  or  remorse  on  the  slightest  orovoca- 
tion. 


VOL.    I. 


19 


434  NOTES. 

Don  TeUo,  who  commanded  a  body  of  Aorse,  disgraced  himself  by 
a  hasty  retreat,  p.  303. 

Don  Tello,  the  third  son  of  Dona  Leonorde  Guzman,  waa 
younger  than  Don  Pedro,  but,  with  an  old  head  on  his  young 
shoulders,  was  possessed  of  craftiness,  subtleness,  and  selfishness 
far  beyond  his  years. 

And  Enrique  fled  into  Aragon,  p.  304. 

After  the  battle  of  Najara  the  prince  of  Wales  ordered  that  four 
knights  and  four  men-at-arms  should  reconnoitre  the  field.  When 
they  came  before  him  to  make  their  report  Edward  enquired  in  bis 
Gascon  dialect :  "  E  lo  bort,  es  mort  o  pres "?" — "  And  the  bastard, 
is  he  killed  or  taken  ?" — and  they  replying  that  he  could  be  found 
neither  alive  nor  dead,  the  prince  exclaimed,  "Non  ay  res  fait !" — 
"  There  is  nothing  done." 

Men  Rodriguez  de  Sanabria,  p.  304. 

When  Enrique,  count  of  Trasramara,  fled  into  Asturias  to  es- 
cape from  the  anger  of  the  king,  which  he  had  provoked  by  his 
marriage  with  Juana  de  Villena,  he  was  accompanied  by  two  of  his 
favorite  knights,  Pedro  Carrillo  and  Men  Rodriguez  de  Sanabria. 
If  this  last  was  the  same  that  negotiated  with  du  Guesclin  the 
escape  of  Don  Pedro,  there  is  little  doubt  that  he  was  a  party  in 
the  treason  that  sold  that  sovereign  to  his  foes. 

The  many  good  traits  that  redeem  his  character  from  the  odium  cast 
upon  zY,  p.  307. 

Among  the  traits  of  chivalrous  magnanimity  that,  starlike,  stud 
the  dark  pall  spread  over  the  reign  of  Pedro  is  the  following,  taken 
from  the  pages  of  Alfonzo  Martinez  de  Toledo,  chronicler  of 
Juan  fl.  |  lOv 

During  the  period  that  the  cardinal  legate  was  endeavoring  to 
reconcile  the  kings  of  Aragon  and  Castile,  Don  Pedro  was  besieg- 
ing Cabezon,  a  castle  that  held  out  for  count  Enrique.  Though 


NOTES.  435 

the  garrison  numbered  but  ten  men,  the  peculiar  situation  of  the 
fortress  built  on  perpendicular  rocks,  precluding  the  possibility  of 
its  being  attacked  with  battering  engines,  joined  to  its  being  amply 
provisioned,  rendered  it  capable  of  holding  out  for  a  considerable 
length  of  time,  as  it  could  be  reduced  but  by  famine.  The  ennui 
inevitable  to  being  cooped  up  in  this  manner  becoming  intolerable 
to  the  ten  soldiers  accustomed  to  a  roving,  active  life,  probably 
suggested  the  diabolical  proposal  made  by  them  to  the  governor 
which  was  neither  more  nor  less  than  that  he  should  give  up  his 
wife  and  daughter  to  divert  the  tedium  of  their  long  leisure  hours  or 
witness  the  surrender  of  the  castle.  Thus  placed  between  the 
alternative  of  sacrificing  his  wife  and  child  or  his  knightly  honour^ 
the  governor  chose  compliance  with  the  insolent  demands  of  his 
refractory  soldiers  rather  than  break  the  oath  that  bound  him  to 
maintain  at  all  hazards  the  castle  for  his  lord.  Two  of  the  men- 
at-arms,  horrified  at  the  infamous  exactions  of  their  comrades,  made 
their  escape  from  the  castle  and  were  brought  into  the  presence  of 
King  Pedro,  to  whom  they  related  what  had  passed.  The  king 
immediately  sent  a  message  to  the  governor,  offering  him,  in  ex- 
change for  the  miscreants,  ten  knights  of  his  own  army  who  should 
bind  themselves  by  a  solemn  oath  to  hold  the  castle,  under  the 
governor's  orders,  against  the  king  himself,  even  unto  death,  until 
he  himself  should  surrender  it.  The  generous  offer  having  been 
accepted,  the  ten  traitors  were  by  Pedro's  orders  drawn  and  quar- 
tered. 

His  justice  merged  into  cruelty,  p.  308. 

Don  Pedro  has  been  greatly  censured  for  the  cruel  punishment 
inflicted  by  his  orders  in  Miranda  de  Ebro,  on  two  citizens  of  that 
town,  Pero  Martinez  and  Pero  Sanchez  for  theft  and  rebellion. 
But  this  king  was  not  the  only  one  who  sentenced  to  such  deaths. 
Boiling  and  burning  were  punishments  in  vogue  in  those  days  in 
many  countries  of  Europe,  and  if  not  very  frequent  in  Spain,  they 
were  not  unusual  and  had  been  decreed  by  princes  famed  for  equity 
and  goodness.  Ferdinand  I.  surnamed  the  Great,  and  the  Saint, 


NOTES. 

caused  many  malefactors  in  Toledo  to  be  hung,  and  many  to  be 
thrown  into  cauldrons  of  boiling  water.  Alfonso  the  Warrior 
did  the  same  in  Avila,  and  Sancho  the  Brave,  if  he  did  not  cause 
it  to  be  done,  threatened  to  do  so.  The  Goths  were  outdone  by 
their  Christian  successors  in  cruelty,  but  these  punishments  were 
relics  of  barbarism  that  gradually  disappeared. 

No  sooner  had  Enrique,  entered  the  place  than  he  sent  the  governor 

and  the  chancellor  of  the  late  King  to  Seville  with  orders  for  their 

immediate  execution,  p.  307. 

The  final  execution  of  these  gentlemen  was  preceded  by  inor- 
dinate attrocities.  Martin  Lopez  was  dragged  through  all  the 
streets  of  Seville ;  his  hands  and  feet  were  then  cut  off,  and  he 
was  burned  to  death.  The  chancellor,  after  being  subjected  to  the 
same  indignities  and  mutilation,  was  decapitated.  Dona  Leonor, 
the  daughter  of  Don  Martin,  rose  high  in  the  favor  of  Catherine  of 
Lancaster,  but  lost  it  through  the  indiscreet  use  she  made  of  it. 

Zamora  affords  another  proof  of  the  barbarity  of  the  bastard  of 
Trastamara.  The  governor  of  this  town  after  the  murder  of  Don 
Pedro,  continued  to  hold  it  for  the  children  of  his  late  royal  master. 
Enrique  laid  seige  to  it  in  person,  and  having  obtained  possession 
of  the  three  children  of  the  governor  himself,  made  their  lives  con- 
ditional on  the  surrender  of  the  place.  But  the  brave  Spaniard 
saw  them  put  to  death  without  offering  to  save  them  at  the  expense 
of  his  honor.  This  atrocious  barbarity  did  not  accelerate  the 
,  cession  of  the  town,  the  inflexible  soldier  holding  out  until  pesti- 
lence had  decimated  his  garrison  and  famine  was  threatening  to 
leave  none  alive  in  it ;  he  then  made  his  escape  by  night  into  Por- 
tugal, carrying  the  keys  with  him.  Several  towns  and  castles 
preferred  submitting  to  Aragon  rather  than  to  Enrique.  The 
message  of  the  Alcayde  of  Canete  to  the  King  of  Aragon,  purporting 
his  determination  to  give  up  the  place  to  Moors  or  Jews  rather 
than  to  Enrique,  is  characteristic  of  the  little  love  many  bore  the 
fratricide. 


NOTES.  437 

Speaking  of  the  final  capitulation  of  Zamora  after  tbe  departure 
of  its  governor,  tbe  old  chronicler  Pero  Nino  says  :  "-diose  al  Rey 
a  pleijtetia,  e  si  el  Rey  ge  la  tovo  non  es  mio  de  escrebir.  making 
Enrique's  observance  of  its  articles  somewhat  doubtful. 


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